8 Men Found Slain on Canadian Farmland
Sun Apr 9, 7:28 AM ET
The bodies of eight men were found inside four vehicles abandoned in a remote wooded area on a farmer's property in rural southwestern Canada.
Police were not disclosing many details about the deaths in rural Ontario, about 20 miles southwest of the city of London, except to say that four vehicles were involved, including a tow truck, and that the dead were all men. They were found Saturday morning.
"We're not in a position to reveal how they were murdered," Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Dave Rektor said.
Police found the bodies after a call from the property owner. An aerial view showed the vehicles parked within 650 feet of each other, with the bodies still inside.
The Ontario coroner and the attorney general's office declined comment.
A minivan was discovered in a field about 65 feet off a dirt road. About 300 feet away, a tow truck was found parked on the shoulder with a small silver car hooked to the back. A fourth car was parked in a clearing about 300 feet along the dirt road. The hatch was wide open.
Mary and Russell Steele, who own the property around which the cars were parked, told Global News that the vehicles weren't there when they took the road home the night before at around 8:30 p.m.
They said they called police Saturday morning after looking inside one of the vehicles and not being able to see anything because of a blanket covering the back window.
"We didn't see anybody in them, so we just phoned the cops with the licence plate numbers," Russell Steele said.
"The police opened opened the back and I could see forms," his wife said. "I couldn't tell, but immediately in my mind I thought, 'these are bodies.'"
