A note apparently left behind may shed light for police and extended family members on why a mother and her teenage son died in their Lethbridge-area home late last week.
Although RCMP have so far only described the incident as suspicious, they haven’t ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide.
The bodies of Jaime Wauters and her son Greg were discovered early Friday evening in their farmhouse about five kilometres east of Lethbridge, just north of Highway 3, a family member confirmed Sunday.
“There’s not an awful lot we know,” said Eugene Wauters, a brother-in-law and uncle to the two deceased.
“Apparently, there’s information that’s left behind that we’ll have access to, probably later on (Monday),” he said. “You don’t expect anything like this to happen in a family.”
The woman and son had continued living in their longtime family home following the death of husband and father Jerry Wauters in March 2008. The recently deceased pair were also the sister-in-law and nephew of Terry Wauters, who served as Lethbridge police chief from 1984-1995.
Major crimes investigators with Lethbridge RCMP are handling the investigation.
Autopsies later today are expected to determine the causes of death. What’s also still unclear is how long the pair had been dead before they were discovered by a visitor at about 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Eugene Wauters, whose family still farms the land around the home, said everything was quiet last Wednesday, the last time he was on the property to do some haying.
“We farm the land around the buildings. I had been around, and there was nothing going on. We just assumed they had gone away,” he said.
By Sunday, all traces of the police investigation were gone from around the family’s brick home, located on Broxburn Road. The lawn on the well-kept property was neatly trimmed.
Police were called Friday by an unidentified visitor who had gone inside and found the deceased woman.
“Members went there and discovered there was a second deceased, a late teenaged boy (who was) related,” said Sgt. Patrick Webb, RCMP spokesman.
Investigators don’t believe there is any continuing danger to the public.
“Right now, we're not looking for anyone else,” Webb said.