The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit (VIIMCU) is asking for public assistance as it investigates a homicide that occurred earlier this week in Bowser.
“As the investigation has progressed it has been determined that a black Samsung cellphone may have been discarded between the 5000 block of Thompson Clarke Drive West and the 7600 block of Old Island Highway,” said Sgt. Chris Manseau, BC RCMP division media relations officer, in a media release. “Investigators have been making attempts to locate this phone, which may have inadvertently been picked up.”
Police said Luciano Mariani, 43, of no fixed address, was charged in connection with the death of a woman in Bowser.
Oceanside RCMP and other emergency responders were called to the 5000 block of Thompson Clark Drive West in Bowser on Aug. 31, according to a media release by the RCMP.
RCMP officers arrived on scene to find a woman suffering from serious and suspicious injuries.
The victim later succumbed to her injuries. Mariani was located at another location by police a short time later and arrested, police said. Court records show Mariani remains in police custody and is scheduled to appear in Nanaimo Law Courts on Sept. 7.
VIIMCU is working closely with the Oceanside RCMP, Integrated Forensic Identification Services and the BC Coroners Service in the investigation, according to police.
Anyone with information about the incident or the location of the cellphone is asked to call the Oceanside RCMP at (250) 248-6111.
