A man is in posthumous detention in a mobile home community for seniors at Arbutus Ridge Estates
West Shore RCMP is investigating a possible murder in Langford. Officials said a man was arrested after his mother’s death.
Police investigators don’t believe there is an additional risk to the public “because both people knew each other,” the sergeant said. Chris Manso, RCMP spokesperson.
Yellow police tape surrounded a blue one-story house at 19-2587 Selwyn Road. At the Arbutus Ridge Estates seniors community on Saturday morning. The Coroners Service and West Shore RCMP were on site.
“Officers will continue to remain at the site for the next few days while the investigation progresses,” Manso said.
Langford Cone. Lillian Szback, chair of the Protection Services Commission, confirmed that she was contacted by the West Shore RCMP on Saturday morning and reported that there had been “a murder yesterday at Langford in the trailer park, in Selwyn and … a man in custody; his mother deceased.”
Szbak said her heart goes out to the family and friends of the deceased and to first responders. She said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is working hard on the case and it is good to know that no other members of the public are considered to be at risk.
The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crimes Unit, called VIIMCU, confirmed it was leading the investigation.
On Friday, just in the afternoon, the West Shore RCMP was asked to visit a home on Selwyn Road for a “well-being” check.
“Front-line members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have identified the body of a deceased woman inside a residence,” VIIMCU said in a media statement. Since then a man has been detained without incident.”
Kevin Lee, a neighbor, said the mother in the house is 60, and the son is about 28.
“A couple of neighbors are very upset and having a hard time dealing with it,” he told me. “I just don’t believe it either. I just don’t understand what happened.”
He told me that when he left for work at 5 a.m. on Friday, he saw the son “come home from wherever he was, because sometimes he goes out late at night and comes home early in the morning.”
By the time Lee got home in the afternoon at about 2:30 p.m., the police were on the scene.
A neighbor told me that the son was “taken in handcuffs.”
He told me that the police questioned him and he was told that the death was suspicious.
He told me that the mother and son lived in the house for about two years. He said the mother worked as a cleaner and the son was off work due to a disability.
He told me that it was often possible to hear the sound of the quarrel between the two. “I live across the street,” he said. “You can hear arguments from here but I never knew what they were arguing about and when he would come he would say they were just arguing.
He told me, “I told him I didn’t want to know why, and I didn’t want to be involved, because I love both, so I didn’t want to get in the middle of it all.”
But other than the verbal screaming he heard, he told me he wasn’t worried about the mother’s physical safety.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) continued working with the British Columbia Forensic Service on Saturday to “conclusively confirm the identity of the deceased”.
Anyone with information about a death is asked to call the VIIMCU Information Line at 250‑380-6211.
A silver compact Dodge was outside Selwyn’s house, dusted with snow and a paved driveway to the porch with a bump.
The community has been announced as the first mobile home park in the West Shore, Arbutus Ridge Estates.
In one real estate ad, it was described as a well-managed complex next to Millstream Creek, featuring an on-site concierge, RV parking, and a social club.
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
