Homicide detectives are seeking the public's help solving the case five days after an Edmonton senior was found dead in his downtown Edmonton home, police said.
Ronald Bell, 70, was found dead on Jan. 1 in a bungalow on 106 Street north of 107 Avenue in the Central McDougall neighborhood, reported Global News.
At around 1 pm, police received reports of a sudden death in the home on New Year's Day.
“An extinguished but unreported fire was found inside the residence, along with an active water leak,” EPS Homicide Detective Jared Buhler said Thursday afternoon at a news conference outside the downtown residence.
Homicide detectives have been contacted about the nature of Bell's apparent injuries and the crime scene, he said.
“Based on our scene examination and the autopsy, I think it’s safe to say that there was a very violent event that occurred.
“There was a struggle. Some sort of violent altercation.”
An autopsy on Wednesday found the cause of death to be a homicide, but the cause of death is currently being withheld for investigation reasons.
Investigators now need help identifying other tenants and visitors to the home where his truck disappeared since the day he died.
The victim's black 2011 GMC Sierra truck was last seen on video leaving the alley between 106 and 107 Streets and heading west on 107th Avenue around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 27, 2022.
Buhler said Bell last communicated with the friend at noon that day.
“We suspect that Mr. Bell had already been murdered inside his residence at the time that this vehicle was observed westbound on 107 Avenue.”
He is believed to have been killed sometime between 12.30 pm. The truck was found four hours later.
Given the five days it took to discover the death, police said in an update Thursday afternoon that the truck could be anywhere.
The truck was spotted in southern Alberta hours after the news conference in Edmonton.
An update from EPS on Thursday night said the GMC pickup truck was found unmanned around 4:20 p.m. In southeast Calgary, a license plate was stolen from Spruce Grove.
EPS homicide detectives are still seeking information about the truck and its whereabouts as it drove away from Bell's home nine days ago.
According to police, Bell was the main resident of the house and rented the space to other tenants. Others came for the holidays, either to see him or to see other residents.
Investigators want to speak with anyone who lived at or visited Bell's home (10714 106 Street) on Tuesday or the days before and after.
“While our investigation has accounted for the whereabouts of some of the individuals associated to the residence during this time, others have yet to be located,” Buhler said.
“We are asking the people who were living or visiting Mr. Bell’s home at this time and with whom we have not already spoken, to please come forward to police immediately.”
“What these people know and potentially saw leading up to Mr. Bell’s death is critical to our investigation and we also want to confirm their welfare.”
Additionally, detectives are looking for conversations with local residents or anyone who was inside the home between Tuesday and Sunday last week and noticed activity outside or behind the home.
The house is next to a Husky gas station on 107 Avenue, which police say is heavy traffic.
“People may have been coming to fuel up, to purchase food at the convenience store and may have walked past this address or driven past this address during that timeframe.”
Everything observed in the house during these five days was important for the investigation, Bühler said.
“We’re interested in any activity at the front or at back during that time — specifically, individuals who may have been moving property from the house.”
Judging from the condition of the interior of the home, items were likely discarded within a few days of the death, Buller said.
“We have a pretty good sense of what happened in the alley so we’re more concerned about what happened here on the street.”
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a cell phone.
Anonymous information may also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
Source - By Karen Bartko Global News
Comments