The Ontario Provincial Police have announced that they are looking into a homicide at a campground in Perth, Ont., which is located southwest of Ottawa.
Officers were dispatched to the Last Duel Campground on Craig Street just after 4 a. m. on Sunday, according to OPP Const. Dave Bird.
Initially, investigators found the death of a 45-year-old man suspicious but later confirmed it was indeed a homicide.
The victim has been identified as James Laverdure from Lanark County, Ont.
An autopsy took place on Monday.
‘I heard voices, shouting’
Luc Beaudry was asleep at the campground when he was startled awake by loud shouts and chaos.
“I heard voices, shouting, and eventually woke up and realized it wasn’t a dream. And as I did, it sounded [like] there was some urgency, some kerfuffle going on,” Beaudry told .
Beaudry mentioned hearing a woman screaming and asking for help. A few minutes later, he noticed three OPP vehicles arriving at the campground, followed shortly by an ambulance.
“At that point, I still had no clue what was going on, whether any violence had happened. It was only the next morning that I realized that, yeah, there was a death,” Beaudry said.
Several camp sites at the Last Duel Campground have been closed off as OPP investigate a homicide. (Matthew Kupfer/CBC)
No risk to public, says mayor
Perth Mayor John Fenik stated in an emailed message that there’s no need for concern among residents.
“The OPP have the required resources on site and I want to reassure the citizens of Perth there is no public safety risk in relation to this investigation,” Fenik wrote.
Perth is located 85 kilometers southwest of Ottawa, with the Last Duel Campground being owned and run by the town.
This weekend’s homicide marks the first in over ten years in this town of around 6,000 people, according to Bird who served on Perth’s police force before it disbanded in 2013.
If anyone has information regarding this case they are encouraged to call Det.-Const. Tom Kohls at the Lanark County OPP detachment using their toll-free number: 1-888-310-1122.
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