EDMONTON – RCMP are looking for a welder who put a towing hitch on an SUV belonging to Lyle and Marie McCann nearly six years ago, several years before the couple disappeared while driving to B.C.
The McCanns are presumed to have been slain, and were officially declared dead this summer.
According to information released by the RCMP on Thursday morning, Lyle McCann once had a tow bar assembly mounted to his white, 1988 Dodge Ram 50 pickup truck. In 2006, after the McCanns bought a light green 2006 Hyundai Tucson SUV, the tow bar was taken off the pickup truck, modified, and then re-installed on the Tucson.
Because of the differences in the two vehicles, RCMP believe the two bar was altered by a welder or hitch company so it would fit the SUV.
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RCMP spokesman Sgt. Tim Taniguchi said investigators have attempted to identify the person or people who did the work, but have been unsuccessful. He could not comment on what role the information may play in the investigation, except that it will help investigators strengthen one aspect of the case.
“I don’t know why they are looking for this piece of information, but it’s obviously important if they are going this route,” Taniguchi said.
He said investigators hope that releasing specific information about the vehicles may help jog the memory of whoever worked on the vehicles.
The McCann case continues to be one of the province’s most high profile homicide cases, and Taniguchi says RCMP are making progress.
Police describe the investigation as “complex and large in scope,” with at least six officers working on the case. So far RCMP have received more than 2,000 tips.
Lyle McCann, 78, and Marie McCann, 77, were last seen on July 3, 2010, after leaving their St. Albert home for a trip to B.C.
Their burned motorhome was located two days later at Minnow Lake campground, about 150 kilometres west of Edmonton. The SUV was found about two weeks later, in a remote wooded area near where the motorhome had been found.
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