RCMP say they have arrested three people accused of kidnapping and killing of a 12-year-old boy whose remains were found in rural Alberta nearly three months ago.
Insp. Wayne Stevenson said Mounties in Athabasca received a call from an unknown male on Aug. 6 shortly before 3:30 a.m. who told the operator he had been kidnapped and was injured.
Officers arrived at the scene near Calling Lake and found a stolen vehicle from Edmonton that showed signs of an attack. At around 9 a.m., officers located the remains of a young boy.
An autopsy performed the following day identified the boy as 12-year-old Fiasal Hussein and deemed his death a homicide.
Search warrants were executed at residences in Edmonton on Oct. 24 and three people were arrested.
Cole Morin, 34, and Curtis Brown, 36, have been charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder. Rachel Stuart, 36, has been charged with second-degree murder.
All three have been remanded into custody and are to appear in court on Nov. 9.
Sgt. James McConnell with RCMP major crimes unit said Hussein and the suspects were known to each other and were involved in criminal activity.
The sergeant also confirmed that Brown and Stuart were in a common-law relationship together and that Stuart and Morin had familial ties. The three accused were known to Edmonton police, who assisted RCMP in the investigation.
“The exact specifics and motive of this homicide are still part of the ongoing investigation, and it’s not immediately clear to us why people would take a young 12-year-old boy under false pretences to rural Alberta and murder him,” McConnell told reporters at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, McConnell was unable to speak to what criminal activity Hussein participated in.
“We have a 12-year-old boy that had his whole life ahead of him whose life was taken. I can’t think of any circumstances that would support, or behaviour that would warrant such an act,” he said.
McConnell said officers believe the 911 call came from Hussein, but that spotty service was unable to confirm the caller’s identity. Hussein’s family has been cooperative, he added, and said the boy left the family’s Edmonton home on Aug. 5 of his own volition.
Police are not providing details on the cause of death, as the matter is before the courts.
Calling Lake is about 190 kilometres north of Edmonton.
