DUNCAN, B.C. -- Police Tuesday charged a 32-year-old Duncan man with first degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Lisa Clausen, whose body was found in a remote area on nearby Mount Prevost.
RCMP said in a prepared statement Paul Richard Kocurek had been remanded in custody to appear in court Thursday before Judge Lance Herd in the Vancouver Island community about 50 kilometers north of Victoria.
Clausen was reported missing Sunday after she disappeared while jogging, police said. More than 100 volunteers launched a search for the teen-aged girl and her body was found on the outskirts of the town late Monday. A suspect was picked up hours later.
Police would not say how she was killed.
Clausen's murder brought to nine the number of children who have been killed or disappeared mysteriously in southwestern British Columbia in the last four months. Two other youths have been killed and six currently are missing.
Police have not dismissed the theory they may be connected, but say the only present link between the cases is that all were victims of 'criminal acts.' RCMP Supt. Bruce Northrop of Vancouver said last week that 'in all probability all the children in question were picked up by someone.'
RCMP headquarters in Vancouver has gathered the facts of the cases although separate investigations were continuing.
RCMP in New Westminster, B.C., just southeast of Vancouver, Tuesday continued their search for 17-year-old Louise Chartrand, of nearby Maple Ridge. Chartrand disappeared July 30 after leaving her home to hitch-hike to her waitressing job on the other side of town.
Police said several articles of 'female clothing' had been found in her hometown and at Whistler, about 80 kilometers north of Vancouver.
'The investigation is continuing in an attempt to establish if they are the clothes of the missing person,' said a spokesman.
Found slain were Judy Kozma, 14, of New Westminster, reported missing July 9 and found last weekend near Agassiz, B.C. and Daryn Todd Johnsrude, 16, of Saskatoon, found dead of a fractured skull May 2 near Mission, B.C.
Missing were Miss Chartrand; Raymond King Jr., 15, of New Westminster; Simon Partington, 9, of Surrey, B.C.; Ada Court, 13, of Burnaby, B.C.; Sandra Wolfsteiner, 16, of Langley, B.C.; and Verna Bjerky, 17, of Yale, B.C.
