EDMONTON – The Edmonton Medical Examiner has concluded the death of a man whose body was found in the west end last weekend was the result of a homicide.
An autopsy confirmed Brad MacDonald, 37, of Nova Scotia died from blunt force trauma.
A friend of MacDonald’s said they grew up together in Beaver Bank, N.S. She said Brad had been working in Alberta for a few years with his brother Ryan.
Police were called to the area of Stony Plain Road and Winterburn Road at around 8 a.m. Sunday.
Edmonton Police Service homicide Det. Bill Clark said a man’s body was discovered in a ditch by a person passing by the area Sunday morning. He said the man sustained head trauma.
“We have no idea who this person is at this time or how they ended up here,” Clark said.
“There’s obvious signs of trauma so homicide’s been called out.”
It’s not known how long the body was in the ditch, but Clark said officers believe it may have been there overnight before it was discovered.
Police were looking into tire tracks leading up to and going away from the body. However, Clark cautioned the tire tracks may have already been there.
“There’s a bunch of different tire tracks in this field; you can see them around here as we look,” Clark said.
Officers from the EPS major collision investigation unit and homicide unit are investigating.
It was the second death Edmonton police were called in to investigate over three days.
On Friday night, homicide detectives were called to the area of 116 Avenue and 97 Street after a man was found dead in an alley with “obvious signs of trauma.”
“You never like it when you have this many this close together,” Clark said of the deaths. “We don’t like it when we have any.”
Homicide detectives in Edmonton were stretched to capacity in late March when police were called in to investigate six suspicious deaths in as many days.
READ MORE: ‘We’re scrambling big time’: Edmonton homicide detectives investigate 6 deaths in 6 days
All six deaths were deemed homicides.
MacDonald’s death is Edmonton’s 13th homicide of the year.
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