An autopsy Monday confirmed 18-year-old Tyeshia Jones of Duncan was the victim of a homicide. No one has been arrested for the slaying.
B.C. Coroners Service has determined the cause of death, but the RCMP is not releasing this.
“There has been hundreds of people who we’ve spoken to, but we have no suspects at this time,” said Island district RCMP spokesman Cpl. Darren Lagan.
He would not say where police believe Jones was killed, whether sexual assault was a factor or whether a weapon has been recovered. He said it’s unclear whether this was a random or targeted attack.
“We haven’t been able to answer some of the important questions on this investigation,” Lagan said. “And until we do, we ask the public to exercise extra vigilance for their public safety.”
Investigators have finished gathering evidence from the area where Jones was found on Friday morning, in a wooded area on Cowichan Tribes land near the Shaker Church cemetery off Indian Road.
Jones went missing around 3 a.m. Jan. 22 after she left a friend’s residence on Miller Road. She had arranged to meet an older male friend at the Superstore on the Island Highway but never arrived.
Cowichan Tribes Chief Lydia Hwitsum confirmed that her 22-year-old son, Josh, was supposed to meet Jones at the Superstore.
The two had been at the party together that night but somehow became separated, Hwitsum said.
She said she doesn’t know why the two decided to meet at the Superstore, about a half-hour walk from where the party was held. Josh had borrowed a bike from someone at the party to meet her, she said.
“[Jones] had called and he had gone down to try and meet her – and she didn’t show up,” Hwitsum said. “When he saw she wasn’t there, he looked around, waited, and went back to the place where he borrowed the bike.”
Hwitsum said her son and Jones had been friends for about a year, mostly chatting on Facebook.
“He’s having a really hard time, of course,” Hwitsum said. “He’s just thinking, “˜Why didn’t I go further or look farther?’ “
Hwitsum said her son has turned his cellphone in to the police.
Joe Thorne, a Cowichan Tribes elder and a cousin of Jones, said that in addition to the man she was going to meet, there was a “clique” of about four other males in the area at the time she disappeared.
He said the remote spot where she was found is an area only local residents would know.
“Because of where she was brought, there’s no way a stranger would know that area – no way,” said Thorne, who is also a Duncan city councillor.
He said he believes Jones was killed elsewhere and brought to the location where her body was found. Volunteers from the tribe had already searched that area days before her body was discovered, Thorne said.
Lagan said the first time police searched the area was Friday morning.
“Upon commencing that search, a short time later her body was found.”
Lagan said progress is being made by the more than 50 police officers investigating the killing.
The community has rallied around Jones’s family, said Duncan Mayor Phil Kent.
Close to 1,500 people are expected to take part in Take Back the Night – A Walk for Tyeshia Jones set for downtown Duncan on Feb. 18.
Duncan organizer Jeff Leggat said he’s overwhelmed with the response to a Facebook posting advertising the walk.
Anyone who wants to volunteer for the event can reach Leggat through email at lufajones1@hotmail.com.
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