A search for a high-risk sexual offender has turned into a homicide investigation after the 22-year-old man’s body was discovered in North Vancouver’s Mosquito Creek on Friday.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was called in after the body of Cameron Leon was found in the creek near Fell Avenue and 17th Street.
Leon’s death was immediately considered suspicious by North Vancouver RCMP officers and the coroner who was called to the scene, said Sgt. Stephanie Ashton, spokeperson for IHIT.
“They determined we needed to do an autopsy. That was done yesterday,” said Ashton. “It was determined foul play was a factor in his death.”
The cause of Leon’s death isn’t being released.
Ashton said investigators are in North Vancouver, interviewing people in the area where Leon’s body was discovered. The top priority for police is to find and talk to anyone who may have seen or been with Leon between Dec. 1 – when he failed to return to a Vancouver halfway house – and Dec. 4, when his body was discovered, said Ashton.
Leon's body was found in the creek in a wooded area not far from North Vancouver’s homeless shelter on Bewicke Avenue. The area near Mosquito Creek is known as a spot where homeless people sometimes camp.
Last week, Vancouver Police issued a public notice about Leon, saying he was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant after disappearing from the halfway house Nov. 30.
Leon had been released to the halfway house after serving the mandatory portion of a two-year jail sentence for a violent sexual assault and beating of a woman in a Chilliwack alley in the fall of 2012.
Leon was found guilty in a B.C. Supreme Court in 2013 of sexual assault causing bodily harm and assault causing bodily harm in connection with the case. He also had a previous conviction for sexual assault and was considered a high risk to reoffend.
