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2 people charged with first-degree murder after burned body found in Burnaby park

Click to play video: 'Young pair charged with first-degree murder after mother’s burned body found in Burnaby park'
Young pair charged with first-degree murder after mother’s burned body found in Burnaby park
A 15-year-old youth and 21-year-old man have been charged with first-degree murder and indignity to human remains after the body of 49-year-old mother Ma Cecilia Loreto was found in a Burnaby park on March 18. Rumina Daya reports. – Mar 24, 2021

Charges have been laid in connection with the burned body found in a Burnaby park on March 18, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said Wednesday.

Charges of first-degree murder and indignity to human remains have now been laid against two people. Carlo Tobias, 21, is one of the accused but the second person is 15 years old and so has not been named at this time, according to the IHIT.

“We believe this was not a random incident,” Sgt. Frank Jang of IHIT said Wednesday.

“This was not gang-related. This was not drug-related. This was not a random incident. From what we can tell, we are sure everybody knew each other.”

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Click to play video: 'IHIT investigating after burnt body found in Burnaby park'
IHIT investigating after burnt body found in Burnaby park

Jang added none of the people involved are known to the police.

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Burnaby RCMP officers and firefighters were first called to Greentree Village Park on Garden Grove Drive around 1:57 a.m. after reports of a brush fire in the park.

The victim has been identified as 49-year-old Ma Cecilia Loreto. Friends and family call her Maricel or Mycel, Jang said.

He said she was a mother and leaves behind family and friends.

Ma Cecilia Loreto was previously the subject of a missing person’s report in New Westminster. Source: New Westminster Police.

Jang said they believe Loreto was killed in her New Westminster home earlier in the evening.

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He did not provide any further details about what happened after Loreto was killed and what the nature of her relationship was with her accused killers.

IHIT is asking anyone who knew Loreto to contact them at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448).

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