Human remains found in the rural municipality of Springfield on June 1 were confirmed by the Winnipeg Police Service June 3 as those of Christine Wood, a 21-year-old woman from Oxford House who went missing in Winnipeg Aug. 19.
RCMP Oakbank detachment officers responded to a call of possible human remains around 10:15 a.m. June 1 and confirmed they were human, resulting in investigation by the RCMP Serious Crimes Unit and the Forensic Identification Section.
Thirty-year-old Brett Overby of Winnipeg was charged April 7 with second-degree murder in relation to the homicide of Wood. He had been arrested March 21 on an unrelated matter when Winnipeg police executed a search warrant at a Burrows Avenue residence and was charged with second-degree murder after the Winnipeg Police Service's Forensic Identification Unit spent several days at that residence gathering evidence.
Wood was with her parents in Winnipeg to accompany another family member to a medical appointment at the time she went missing. The former University of Winnipeg student went out for the evening Aug. 19 and never returned, with calls and texts to her cell phone going unanswered. Members of the Winnipeg Police Services missing persons unit began collaborating with homicide investigators in January.
