One charge has been laid against the husband of Trina Hunt, whose body was found in Hope four years ago.
Iain Hunt, 52, has been charged with one count of indignity to human remains relating to his wife's death. Her body was found March 29, 2021, more than two months after she had been reported missing (Jan. 18, 2021). Iain Hunt is currently not in custody while he waits for his court date.
On Tuesday (Feb. 4), the BC Prosecution Service approved the charge, which "occurs when a person neglects to perform their legal duty to bury a dead human body, or if a person interferes in an improper, indecent or undignified way with a dead human body or human remains."
“The laying of a charge does not dilute the loss and pain endured by Trina’s family and friends,” says Sgt. Freda Fong of Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. “There is still a long road ahead as the community continues to heal from her tragic death.”
“However, today’s outcome is the result of the persistence and dedication by the investigators who were committed to seeing the case through and we must acknowledge this is a step forward as the court process begins.”
Fong told media during a news conference in Surrey Tuesday that the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is "always open to more information that might exist," but wouldn't say if it was an active investigation.
"If we, say, get a tip in our information line tomorrow, we would not be closed off to that."
But she said there "wouldn't be a lot of active leads left to exhaust," which is why the charge of indignity to human remains was forwarded to Crown counsel.
No one has been charged in the cause of Trina's death. Fong said she couldn't comment on how Trina died, but later said it would be revealed in the court proceedings.
Fong said she couldn't provide further details on the investigation "as the information of this type tends to affect the accused."
She said the date of the offence is believed to be on or around Jan. 16, 2021. Hunt was reported missing by her husband two days later on Jan. 18, but Fong added she couldn't go into the details of the gap in time of the offence date and when Trina was reported missing.
"What's important is that there has been a four-year investigation invested into this case," Fong said, adding that it led to a charge being approved.
Fong said a charge of indignity to human remains means that when a person dies, "whoever has the legal duty to bury them properly, failed to do so." She added it "could either be that they neglected to perform their legal duty to bury the body or the interfered in an improper way with the human body or their remains."
Nearly three weeks earlier, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team put out a news release on around the four-year anniversary of Trina's disappearance. Police said at the time that investigators were still looking for answers into her death.
On Tuesday, Fong said that she didn't believe there were tips that led to the charging of Iain Hunt.
The four-year investigation involved more than 130 investigators and support staff, more than 240 gigabytes of digital evidence, more than 90 interviews and just over 140 tips that police filtered through.
An extensive search was launched when Hunt was reported missing, by police, Trina's family, and members of the community. Her body was eventually found in Silver Creek, just outside of Hope. A few weeks later, IHIT confirmed the remains were Hunt's.
IHIT has been working in partnership with the Port Moody Police Department, the Integrated Forensic Identification Services, the BC Coroners Service and E Division RCMP support units to advance this investigation, which has spanned just over four years.
While Fong said she couldn't comment on whether or not there were mistakes made in the investigation, she said it was very complex.
"One thing that the public often overlooks, too, is that we must follow the evidence lead and sometimes we don't know right at the onset what we're even looking for. So was it a perfect investigation? I bet not. Were there mistakes made? I'm really in a position to comment on that."
IHIT added that because the case is now before the courts, no further details will be provided.
