RCMP identify dead man as suspect in roadside killings near Creston, B.C.

RCMP in B.C.'s southeastern Interior have identifieda man found dead at a motel in Salmo Thursday morning as the suspect in the killings of two people found at a roadside pullout the previous evening.

According to a statement, RCMPdiscovered the body of a "clearly deceased" man Thursday after responding to a call about someonewho appeared to be passed out near an electrical shed at a motel.

The body was found about 80 kilometreswest of Creston, where the victims of a double homicidewere found stabbedat about 7 p.m. Wednesday at a pullout at the bottom ofthe Kootenay Pass on Highway 3.

"We can appreciate this is not the outcome the victims' families may have hoped for but we hope this news brings them comfort in their grief,"said RCMP Southeast District Major Crime Unit StaffSgt. Scott Ashenbrenner.

Victims seriously injured at time of discovery

RCMP have not named the suspect, but say he reportedly fled the scene in a vehicle associated with one of the victims.

The vehicle was located in Salmo, a community about an hour's drive west, just hours before police discovered the suspect's body.

First responders saidboth of the stabbing victims were seriously injuredwhen officers arrived.

"Those officers immediately rendered first aid treatment," wrote Cpl.Jesse O'Donaghey. "Despite the best efforts of everyone at the scene, including some passersby who stopped to help, [a] 40-year-old man was pronounced deceased."

The second victim, a 25-year-old woman, was taken to a local hospital, where she later died. RCMP said the man was from Calgary, while the woman was from the West Kootenay.