‘No evidence’ of crime in 2 sudden deaths in Saint John, police say

There is no evidence the deaths of two people found at a home in east Saint John were suspicious, police say.

On Monday, the Saint John Police Force announced it was investigating the sudden deaths of a man and woman who were found dead at a house on Red Head Road.

On Wednesday, police said the autopsies had been completed and they found no evidence a crime had been committed.

“There is nothing related to this investigation to indicate that there are any public safety concerns,” said police spokesman Sean Rocca.

Rocca said the force would not release the identities of the two people or any information about how they died. This is to protect the families’ privacy and because the coroner’s office is still awaiting the results of the medical tests, he said.

The call came from a third party

Rocca said police received a medical call for help from a third party around 8 a.m. Monday. When they arrived they found the bodies of a man and a woman. He said police could not release any more information about who made the call.

He said the coroner’s office is still conducting medical tests that could take weeks or months and has not yet determined a cause of death.

“If the police experience a sudden death and start an investigation and there is no obvious indication of what caused the death, then the next step would be to secure the crime scene and wait for the autopsy to be done,” he said.

“Obviously there was nothing in this case from either the crime scene or the autopsy. So far, no evidence has been gathered to suggest anything was criminal in nature. So the next step would be to wait for further medical tests.”

He said generally when police attend a sudden death scene, they treat the death as suspicious until evidence suggests otherwise. He said police would base a crime conclusion on “a constellation of all the evidence gathered, including interviewing witnesses, medical examinations and what police see at the scene”.

During a sudden death inquest, the coroner’s office has jurisdiction over the investigation until it is determined that there is suspicion or that a crime was involved, Rocca said. If it is considered suspicious, the police usually lead the investigation in cooperation with the coroner’s office.

He said in cases where the death is not suspicious, police will still conduct some investigations, led by the coroner’s office. The case is not closed, Rocca said, pending the final coroner’s report, which could take months to complete.