Jennifer Teague

[Sher]

Ottawa police are investigating more than 400 tips as they probe the case of missing Barrhaven teenager, Jennifer Teague.

Chief Vince Bevan told CFRA News the local RCMP detachment is offering eight trained investigators to help as the force takes on this investigation of broad proportions.

"We have needs for staff right across the city on a 24 hour, 7 day a week basis," said the chief. "So you can't totally drain all your resources working at this case, so we are working at achieving a balance."

Bevan also said the force has great co-operation from its partners and amongst the division.

Chief Bevan also said many of the officers who took part in the week-long search of Barrhaven are parents. He said that being able to directly sympathize with Ed and Jeanne Teague helped them cope with the harsh searching conditions.

The Teagues parents remain hopeful their 18-year-old daughter will be found safe.

It's been more than eight days since anyone has seen Jennifer.

[Sher]

OTTAWA -- Ottawa police say they are working to identify human remains found in wooded area, leading the city to wonder if it might be the body of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague.

An off-duty police officer came across the body while walking with his family in a densely wooded area.

Staff Sgt. Monique Ackland says investigators can't confirm yet if the body is male or female, or how long it may have been there.

Teague went missing after a late-night shift at a Wendy's restaurant on Sept. 8.

[Sher]

Body of missing Ottawa teen Teague found
CTV.ca News Staff

Ottawa police confirmed Monday that a body found over the weekend is that of Jennifer Teague, who disappeared on her way home from work 11 days ago.

An off-duty police officer and his family discovered the body Sunday off the parking lot near the Kiln Trail, about five kilometres from the Wendy's restaurant where Teague was last seen. The remains had been partially covered with branches.

The body was found on parkland where patrols had been stepped up after Teague's disappearance.

Police say they have now begun a murder investigation. They said they had not determined a cause of death and added that dental records helped to identify the body.

The body has been taken to Toronto for forensic examination.

The 18-year-old Teague went missing in the early morning hours of Sept. 8, shortly after she finished working her night shift at the restaurant. Her friends last saw her at at a nearby convenience store about 1:30 a.m. ET, before she began her walk alone to her mother's house.

Witnesses reported hearing screams that night.

Neither her cellphone nor her debit card had been used since her disappearance.

Teague lived with her family in a quiet, family-oriented Ottawa suburb called Barrhaven -- which is feeling a little more like a big city now.

"It's very sad," said one area resident, Anna Zaborski. "I'm a mother. I have a 15-year-old daughter, so I feel awful about this whole thing."

The crime has also had a big impact on local resident Sheila Mackintosh-Kassis, who has two teenaged daughters.

"Now, just going from the car to the front door my daughter, who is 17, is like, 'Don't leave me. Don't leave me,' and I'm only two feet away. It's really disturbing."

Wendy's Canada may rethink its policy on ensuring employees get home safely. The company says it has a policy that forbids employees from leaving their place of work alone. But other fast food chains, including McDonald's, ensure employees are driven home in taxis or picked up by parents.

Ottawa police have set up an email address for anyone with information into the Teague investigation: [e-mail]

[Sher]

OTTAWA POLICE are now searching for a killer after a body found along a west-end NCC trail Sunday was identified as that of missing Barrhaven teen Jennifer Teague.

Pathologists from the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto confirmed the identity of the decomposed body with the help of dental records 24 hours after an off-duty police officer found it by a Stony Swamp Conservation Area parking lot off Moodie Dr. while out for a walk with his family.

Drawn to the marshy area by a bad odour, the officer found the body partially covered in branches near parking lot P10 along the Lime Kiln Trail at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Eighteen-year-old Jennifer disappeared Sept. 8 while walking home from her part-time job at a Strandherd Dr. Wendy's. She was last seen near Tartan Dr. and Jockvale Rd. -- 5 km from where her remains were discovered.

Staff Sgt. Monique Ackland said the body was removed from the woods at around 2 a.m. and driven to Toronto for forensic testing.


"The cause of death is undetermined at this point," Ackland said, noting it could be weeks before Jennifer's family can begin making funeral arrangements.

Ackland confirmed police "are investigating a murder" but couldn't say whether Jennifer was sexually assaulted or even whether she was wearing the white halter top, black zip-up jacket, jeans and pink running shoes she disappeared in.

Police also couldn't say how long her body had been there or whether it might have been moved there after her death.

MORE THAN 400 TIPS

While police have received more than 400 tips, they still have no suspects or people of interest.

"We will concentrate on finding clues to lead us to the person or persons responsible for this murder," Ackland said.

It's the city's second unsolved murder involving a young woman along an NCC trail in just over two years. Police haven't ruled out the possibility that a serial killer might be on the loose but have yet to link the two cases.

The body of 27-year-old Ardeth Wood was found along an east-end trail in August 2003.

"We cannot discard the fact that it's a possibility, however, we have no indications that would indicate (the cases of) Jennifer and Ardeth Wood are related," she said.

More than 65 police searchers from various departments spent the day searching the area where Jennifer's body was found, while other officers continued interviewing Barrhaven residents and following up on tips.

Wearing hip-waders, rubber gloves and life vests and carrying long sticks to push away the dense brush, officers trekked through the watery ditches along either side of Moodie Dr. between Hunt Club and Fallowfield roads, occasionally stopping to place an item in a plastic bag.

TERRAIN SLOWING SEARCH

Truckloads of officers came in and out of the Moodie Dr. command post, some hauling canoes and Zodiak boats.

Divers took to the swamps to gather evidence while others combed the area by bicycle and ATV. A police helicopter also searched from above.

"Just because of the terrain, it's going to be very slow," said Const. Andy Moore as he patrolled the area by bicycle ahead of other members of his search team, who were conducting the ground examination. "It's gonna become tougher to search because of all the swamps and thick brush."

The search is expected to last another couple of days and extend southbound towards Barrhaven.

Police couldn't say whether Jennifer's backpack, her Wendy's uniform, cellphone or bus pass were among the evidence collected so far.

Police Chief Vince Bevan arrived at Jennifer's Kennevale Dr. home with several social workers at around 2 p.m. to deliver the grim news to her family.

"We told them what the situation was, we provided them with an update on the investigation, who we've got assigned to it," Bevan said of his meeting with the family.

He denied that having a second unsolved homicide of a young woman boosts the pressure on police to solve both Jennifer's and Ardeth's murders. In each case, investigators are focused on delivering answers to the victim's family and a perpetrator to justice.

"Others may forget -- we don't forget and we don't forgive," Bevan said. "It's not the business we're in."

Nine investigators are still working on Ardeth Wood's case, he said.

Family and friends gathered at the home throughout the day but were too distraught to speak with the media.

"They are going through a very hard time and our hearts go out to them," Ackland said, noting it was also a difficult day emotionally for the many officers working the case.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The hunt for a missing teen has now turned into a hunt for a killer. If you have information that might help the case, please call police. The number to call for major crime is 236-1222, ext. 5477. Or you can e-mail tips to [e-mail]

[Sher]

Ottawa police continued to conduct interviews and follow up on tips as the pursuit for Jennifer Teague's killer intensified yesterday.

Four days after Teague's body was discovered along an NCC trail and exactly two weeks after she vanished from a Barrhaven street, police continued to aggressively interview Teague's circle of friends.

In the meantime, forensic tests continued on Teague's body and on trace evidence collected from the area in and around the spot along the Lime Kiln trail where she was discovered.

Teague's cause of death has yet to be released.

Among those interviewed in the past few days are several of Teague's ex-boyfriends, including one she dated for a month about two years ago.


Friends said the ex-boyfriend had been in regular contact with Jennifer via text-messages since their break-up.

The other is a labourer identified to the media by a passing motorist at the scene where Teague's body was discovered. He was said to be a former boyfriend who had been fighting with her.

Detectives would not reveal whether either are considered suspects in the case.

The former boyfriends are among several close friends, acquaintances and co-workers who have been interviewed repeatedly by police since her body was discovered Sunday.

In addition to the interviews, police said they have now received 833 public tips since the start of the investigation.