Cops find 8 bodies on farm

2006-04-09 17:37

Toronto - Canadian police were investigating the murders of eight men whose bodies were left in a remote wooded area on a farmer's property - the worst case of mass murder in Ontario's history.

Police were not disclosing on Sunday many details about the deaths at the farm in the eastern Canadian province of Ontario, about 30km southwest of the city of London.

All they would say was that four vehicles were involved, among them a tow-truck, and that the dead were all men. The bodies were found on Saturday morning.

"We are confident that all the victims were known to each other and were from the greater Toronto area," said Ontario provincial police detective-superintendent Ross Bingley.

The bodies have been taken from the crime scene and are awaiting post-mortems. Bingley said the victims had not been identified and no cause of death was available.

Police would not release any details about the victims until next of kin could be notified. They found the bodies after a call from the property owner, who is not considered a suspect.

Car hooked up to tow-truck

An aerial view showed the vehicles parked within 200m of each other, with the bodies still inside.

The Ontario coroner and the attorney-general's office declined to comment.

A minivan was discovered in a field about 20m off a dirt road. About 100m away, a tow-truck was found parked on the shoulder with a small silver-coloured car hooked to the back.

A fourth car was parked in a clearing about 100m along the dirt road. The boot was wide open.

Mary and Russell Steele, who own the property around which the cars were parked, told Global News the vehicles were not there when they took the road home the night before about 20:30.

They said they called police on 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," said Russell.

"The police opened opened the back and I could see forms," said Mary. "I couldn't tell, but immediately in my mind I thought, 'these are bodies'."

London is about 160km southwest of Toronto and about 50km north of Lake Erie.

Bodies dumped in the past

Surrounding Elgin county also has been home to several motorcycle clubs, including the Loners, the Bandidos and the Hell's Angels.

There have been several violent incidents, including the discoveries of two bodies dumped in county fields in separate incidents in 1994 and 1998.

Both were beaten to death. Neither of the murders has been solved.

- AP