Human remains found last January near the North Saskatchewan River, southwest of Alder Flats, have been identified as 41-year-old Danny Victor Baich who was last seen in Rocky Mountain House area on June 17.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s office has confirmed through DNA testing that the remains found on Jan. 8 by two individuals quadding in a rural area south of Breton, are those of Baich.
Thorsby RCMP, who are trying to piece together a time line leading up to Baich’s death, do not believe his death or disappearance are suspicious.
“Through investigation, consultation with the family and results from the medical examiners report, the cause of death was not the result of foul play, not criminal in nature and most likely self-inflicted,” RCMP Const. Jodi Heidinger, media liaison for the region, said Wednesday.
“Just because Danny was last seen in the Rocky area in June doesn’t mean no one else has seen him, so RCMP are still looking at talking with individuals who might have had brief encounters with him and it is a challenge to find out who was the last to see him,” Heidinger said.
How Baich ended up southwest of Alder Flats is the highlight of the investigation by the Thorsby RCMP, Heidinger said.
Sergeant Chris Matechuk of the Rocky Mountain House RCMP detachment noted that they treated Baich’s disappearance as a missing person file but it was not closed.
“It was still under investigation, we did not conclude the file and our investigation here is now being updated,” he said Wednesday.
Baich was last seen in the Ferrier Acres area west of Rocky Mountain House and numerous officials from Clearwater County, Olds, Red Deer, Didsbury, Brazeu and Rocky Mountain House initiated multiple searches for several weeks.
jjones@www.reddeeradvocate.com