{"id":73018,"date":"2016-03-27T10:47:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T14:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=73018"},"modified":"2016-03-27T10:47:58","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T14:47:58","slug":"police-say-no-obvious-signs-foul-play-discovery-missing-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/03\/27\/police-say-no-obvious-signs-foul-play-discovery-missing-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"Police say no ‘obvious signs’ of foul play in the discovery of missing boy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"RCMP<\/a>
RCMP Sgt. Bert Paquet told reporters there were no \u201cobvious signs of foul play\u201d in the death of two-year-old Chase Martens.
(Photo: RCMP Manitoba\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AUSTIN, Man.\u2014Days of searching by hundreds of volunteers for a missing Manitoba toddler have ended with the tragic discovery of the boy’s body in a creek.<\/p>\n

RCMP Sgt. Bert Paquet told reporters there were no \u201cobvious signs of foul play\u201d in the death of two-year-old Chase Martens and it appears he just walked away from his home.<\/p>\n

The little boy’s body was found Saturday afternoon near the community of Austin after a search began on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis appears to be exactly what we all thought it was\u2014a tragedy,\u201d Paquet said.<\/p>\n

Paquet said that while police aren’t looking at foul play in the case, a team of investigators would be working to determine how the little boy died and that an autopsy is to be conducted Sunday.<\/p>\n

On Thursday the boy’s parents had pleaded for any information that might lead to a reunion with their son, saying it would be unusual for Chase to wander off the property without the family dog.<\/p>\n

The search involved hundreds of people on foot and horseback, driving ATVs and in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would estimate that about 30,000 volunteer hours were donated this week, the majority of them by people who are total strangers to the Martens family,\u201d Paquet said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true genuine care and concern of Manitobans is something that should be recognized and commended.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news came as a huge blow to neighbours like Robert Smith, who took part in the search with members of the local crime watch and range patrol.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody that had something they could offer, they stepped forward. I’m so proud to be a person from Austin because it’s just so wonderful to know that people would drop whatever they have to come to support a family that’s in need,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Paquet said the body of water where the boy was found was only about half-a-kilometre from his home. He said it had been identified early on as a spot that experts advised be searched in greater depth, and teams visited those areas several times as the search area expanded.<\/p>\n

Smith said he saw an open spot on the creek near the family home on Wednesday where the sun had melted the ice. He said he repeatedly walked up and down the shoreline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live along a little creek … and the first thing you do when your kids are missing is you go to the creek and look, because kids are curious,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

By Friday, the search covered an area up to four kilometres from the family’s home.<\/p>\n

Paquet said the searchers kept hoping for the boy’s survival, but knew the odds were challenging after the first few nights.<\/p>\n

The searchers who found the body were volunteers from Winnipeg, Paquet said, and that resources would be available to provide them with counselling.<\/p>\n

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger tweeted condolences shortly after the announcement that the search had ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts go out to the family of Chase Martens today. We wish them peace in this time of sorrow,\u201d Selinger said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Man.\u2014Days of searching by hundreds of volunteers for a missing Manitoba toddler have ended with the tragic discovery of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":73020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[9905,35],"class_list":["post-73018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-chase-martens","tag-original","mauthors-steve-lambert","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}