The Edmonton Police Service says it has received new evidence that confirms that missing woman Patricia Wendy Pangracs is dead.
On Tuesday, police said concealed human remains that were found in the fall were now confirmed to be Pangracs’. Police said evidence and information collected to this date has led them to believe foul play was involved in the 32-year-old’s death.
While both the medical and police investigations are ongoing, police said the cause of death will not be released at this time.
Pangracs was last heard from on June 8 and was reported missing one month later. In August, Edmonton police performed a search in Strathcona County in relation to her disappearance.
“The fact that it’s come over to our section indicates that we do have some concerns for Patricia Pangracs’s well-being,” EPS homicide Det. Jared Buhler said at the time.
Detectives from the missing persons unit and homicide section were working together on the case, along with 24 civilian searches going over four properties in the county just east of Edmonton.
At the time, Buhler said their search was in relation to evidence regarding to her disappearance. He said police believed that was the last place she was seen or heard from.
The day after that search, police said the ground search didn’t uncover anything of interest, but they received new information.
Police learned Pangracs was in the Bruderheim and Beaumont area in the hours leading up to her disappearance, sometime between the evening of June 7 and June 8.
Police said what happened between the time she was in Bruderheim and when she arrived near the intersection of Range Road 233 and Township Road 514 in Strathcona County was crucial.
According to police, Pangracs was wearing dark pants, blue heeled boots, a dark zippered jacket and a white long-sleeved shirt when she was last seen. She was also carrying a dark-coloured purse, a phone and sunglasses at the time.
She was driving a 2011 Cadillac CTS with visible damage on the front passenger bumper.
Anyone with information about Pangracs’ disappearance or death is asked to call the EPS complaint line at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone. Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.