Police search new site

UPDATE: 4 p.m.

RCMP have not linked the search of a Salmon River Road to a public warning they issued on Oct. 13.

At that time, police warned of a "possible risk to the general public and women sex workers" after they arrested a man in relation to an alleged incident on Aug. 28 involving threats made to a woman.

Police say the "woman had attended a pre-arranged meeting" with the man in the area of Salmon River Road.

"The meeting had been set up via an online website utilized by escorts and sex workers," police said.

"The victim reported to police that upon arriving at the agreed upon location in her own vehicle, the male suspect produced a firearm and threatened her. The victim was able to flee the scene unharmed."

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk says 36-year-old Curtis Sagmoen was charged Oct. 17 with disguising his face with intent to commit an offence, intentionally discharging a firearm while reckless, uttering threats, careless use or storage of a firearm, pointing a firearm, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and possession of a controlled substance.

He remains in custody and is scheduled to return to court on Thursday.

Moskaluk says information from the Salmon River Road property also led police to search roadsides, ditches and waterways about 15 kilometres north, near Highway 97B and Springbend Road.

The RCMP will not say who owns the property on Salmon River Road where the human remains were found.

Asked if the searches are related to the public warning, Moskaluk said he was not in a position to comment.

Five women have gone missing in the same area of the North Okanagan in the past 20 months.

Moskaluk said that as of Monday, police had not linked the search to any ongoing investigation. A number of families involved in missing-person cases have contacted police in recent days, he added.

"We have reached out and communicated with a variety of families and provided as much information as possible that we can at this time with respect to their loved ones."

– The Canadian Press

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UPDATE 2:30 p.m.

A police dog is searching near the side of the road, three kilometres north of the Salmon River Road farm where human remains were found.

Four police vehicles are parked near the area and several yellow evidence markers sit in the grass where the dog has been searching. 

A yellow tarp covered a part of the side of the road earlier, but it is no longer there.

Meanwhile at the farm in question, officers are taking measurements of the property. 

An excavator can be seen at the southeast corner of the property, where police appear to have cordoned off a section with black fencing.  

Yellow police tape surrounds the property.

- with files from Nich Johansen 

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ORIGINAL: 9:15 a.m.

An intensive RCMP search of a rural Shuswap property entered its fifth day Monday.

Last week, human remains were found in a pasture behind the main house at 2290 Salmon River Road, northeast of Falkland, and black fencing went up to protect the scene from gawkers.

On Sunday, an RCMP helicopter was brought in to shoot aerial photos of the farmland.

"We anticipate this search continuing for several days," said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.

RCMP have also been searching "open areas, roads and ditches" along Springbend Road in the Enderby area.

Castanet reported last week that a second area was under scrutiny, with officers in gloves conducting a fingertip search.

While it is related to the same investigation, Moskaluk stressed "efforts in that area were not related to a particular private property."

Meanwhile, a man has been charged in connection with a separate Aug. 28 incident in the Salmon River Road area, where a prostitute was allegedly threatened with a gun before she escaped.

Last year, three women went missing in the North Okanagan, and they've yet to be found. As well, a woman went missing in Malakwa in September.