Man charged with murder in 2022 Burnaby double homicide
Mohammed Arif Ansari, 27, faces two counts of second-degree murder and one count of indignity to human remains.
BURNABY — A 27-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with two homicides in Burnaby, B.C., three years ago.
Mohammed Arif Ansari was arrested Friday, and two counts of second-degree murder and one count of indignity to human remains have been approved against him, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said.
He is charged in the murders of 31-year-old Kiesha Garie and 30-year-old Umair Kasim, a couple from Coquitlam.
READ MORE: Montreal police arrest man in fatal attack on woman during Zoom call
READ MORE: Airdrie man charged with six counts of sexual assault after groping incidents at stores
Burnaby RCMP found the bodies of Garie and Kasim inside a vehicle on Alpha Avenue on Oct. 17, 2022.
The discovery was made in the 900-block of Alpha Avenue near École Alpha Secondary School around 1:45 p.m.
Police say the homicides were targeted, and that the victims and the accused knew each other.
IHIT believes this was a targeted homicide, where all three people knew each other.
The couple had been reported missing to Coquitlam RCMP a few days before they were found.
“This was a complex investigation that demanded years of dedicated work by investigators who were committed to finding answers,” said IHIT Sgt. Freda Fong.
“Through the persistent pursuit of multiple investigative avenues and the meticulous examination of evidence, this case has reached a significant milestone with the approval of charges.”
Investigators spent nearly four years gathering and analysing evidence, establishing key information and developing a timeline of events leading up to the discovery of the bodies.
IHIT took over the investigation and worked with Burnaby RCMP, the Integrated Forensic Identification Services and the BC Coroners Service.
Fong said the approval of charges marked a significant milestone following extensive investigative work and a detailed examination of evidence.
She also acknowledged the impact of the homicides on the victims’ families, saying investigators’ thoughts remain with them as the court process continues.
Garie’s mother, Christine Angelis, held a protest in front of RCMP headquarters in Surrey in February, saying she’d been “kept in the dark.”
“The pain of losing my daughter to murder has been compounded by the agonizing wait for justice,” she told the Tri-Cities Dispatch at the time.
With few publicly released leads, Garie’s family started a Facebook group to raise awareness of the lack of progress in the case, which became the subject of a true crime podcast.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spent four years piecing together the circumstances and timeline surrounding the homicides.
As the case is now before the courts, IHIT said no further information will be released.
With files from CBC News, CityNews and Vancouver Sun