Child found dead in trunk

Photo: CTV

Surrey RCMP are currently investigating and will determine whether to involve IHIT. (Bob Henning/CTV Vancouver)

Update -- Dec 11

The 41-year-old mother of a child found dead in a car yesterday has been charged with murder.

Lisa Batstone was officially charged with second-degree murder today and will make an appearance in Surrey Court.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has worked throughout the evening to process the scene where a deceased child was found in the trunk of a vehicle on 35a Avenue in Surrey.

The victim has been identified as eight-year-old Teagan Batstone, the only child of Lisa Batstone.

A cause of death has not been confirmed, but an autopsy is scheduled for today.

Original story Dec. 10

Homicide investigators in Surrey say they have arrested a mother whose child was found dead in a vehicle.

According to CTV Vancouver homicide investigators were called in after a child’s body was discovered in the trunk of a car.

Mounties found the vehicle in a ditch near 35A Avenue and Crescent Road while responding to reports of a minor accident around 12:15 p.m.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said it doesn’t appear the victim died at the scene, however they could not comment on the victim’s age or gender.

Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team now says a woman believed to be the child’s mother has been arrested.

She says the cause of death is not known and will be confirmed in an autopsy.

Pound says police are now trying to find the family and deliver the tragic news.

She also says police will be investigating where the car came from and how long the body was at the scene.

---- With files from CTV Vancouver