'No evidence' of crime in 2 sudden deaths in Saint John, police say
There's no evidence to suggest the deaths of two people found in an east Saint John home were suspicious, police say.
On Monday, the Saint John Police Force said it was investigating the sudden deaths of a man and a woman who were found deceased inside a house on Red Head Road.
On Wednesday, police said the autopsies have been completed, and they found no evidence that a crime has been committed.
"There's nothing in terms of this investigation that would suggest there's a public safety concern," said police spokesperson Sean Rocca.
Rocca said the force won't release the identities of the two people or any information about how they died. This is to protect the privacy of the families, and because the Coroner's Office is still awaiting results of medical testing, he said.
Call came from a 3rd party
Rocca said police received a medical assistance call from a third party at around 8 a.m. Monday. When they arrived, they found the bodies of a man and a woman. He said police can't release any other information about who made the call.
He said the coroner's office is still conducting medical testing that could take weeks or months and hasn't yet determined a cause of death.
"If the police go to a sudden death and they begin an investigation, and there's no obvious sign of what caused death, then the next step would be to secure the scene and wait and until the autopsy occurs," he said.
"Obviously in this case, from both the scene and the autopsy, there was nothing. There was no evidence collected to date to suggest that anything was criminal in nature. So the next step would be to wait for further medical testing."
He said in general, when the police attend any sudden death scene, they treat the death as suspicious until evidence suggests otherwise. He said police would base a conclusion of criminality on "a constellation of all of the evidence that's collected, including interviewing witnesses, medical examinations, what the police see at the scene."
During a sudden death investigation, the coroners office is in charge of the investigation until it's determined that it is suspicious or that there was a crime involved, Rocca said. If it's deemed suspicious, police typically will lead the investigation in conjunction with the coroner's office.
He said in cases where the death is not suspicious, the police will still conduct some investigation, directed by the coroner's office. The case is not closed, Rocca said, until the final coroner report, which could take months to complete.
