Veteran Calgary news photographer provides closure in suspicious death

Mike Drew, retired Calgary Sun photographer, has been called to countless crime scenes in his nearly 40-year career, trying to capture the essence of a police investigation.

“I’ve been around a lot of death in my career,” Drew said. “I’ve actually seen people shot down in the street.”

But it was Drew’s combined love of nature and photography that brought him west of Calgary on January 29. In his retirement, he still takes pictures for his weekly On the Road series.

“It’s such a big world and there’s so many things to see. My little bits of life get shared out to other people,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's such a big world and there's so many things to see. My little bits of life get shared out to other people," he said.

Drew had just finished capturing images at Sibbald Meadows Pond and was driving back to Calgary  when he noticed wildlife activity not far off the road.

“I just saw something that caught my eye and thought it was in an unusual place so I decided to investigate,” Drew explained.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Once he got closer, he realized the police would need to be called. It wasn’t until weeks later that he would truly understand the scope of what he had discovered.

On February 12, Fletcher Kimmel’s family announced on social media that their son’s body had been found.

The 30-year-old had gone missing in September; his disappearance considered suspicious.

READ MORE: Calgary man’s disappearance considered suspicious: police 

Calgary police have not held a news conference since November but confirmed last week that Kimmel’s body had been found.

In a previous release, RCMP said the body had been discovered by a passerby, embedded in the snow and ice.

READ MORE: Body of missing Calgary man found 

Kimmel’s funeral was held on Saturday in his hometown of Brooks.

Drew hopes, although as painful as it might be, that he was able to provide some level of closure to the family.

“The first thing I thought about was his mom,” Drew said.

“I’ve had to photograph the parents of victims so many times. I’m sort of glad in this case at least now they know what’s happened.”