'Everybody's on guard': Residents shaken after bodies found inside burning SUV in Chipman, N.B.

Residents of Chipman, N.B., are expressing their shock after the bodies of two people were found inside a burning vehicle in the community this week.

Police say investigators are treating the deaths as a double-homicide.

"It shouldn't happen. It just shouldn't happen,” said local resident Gerald Richard, who drove by the crime scene Thursday afternoon. “It's devastating, really.”

Richard says something like this hasn’t happened in the small rural community before.

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"Not like this. There's been shootings before in our community, but not like this," he said. 

The RCMP responded to the scene off Midland Road around 8 a.m. Monday morning. When officers arrived, they found two bodies inside a white Chevrolet Equinox “that had been consumed by fire,” according to a news release.

Grand Lake Mayor Kevin Nicklin speaks to CTV News in Fredericton on Nov. 28, 2024.

Grand Lake Mayor Kevin Nicklin says police have reassured him residents have nothing to worry about, but he admits people are feeling “quite tense.”

“They’re looking to make sure that, you know, we’re safe, is the biggest thing, but everybody’s on guard for certain,” Nicklin told CTV News.

“We’re hoping that it does get solved quickly and that that’s the last of these that we have to deal with for a while.”

While homicides are rare in Queens County, resident Tammy Donelan feels there has been an uptick in violent incidents recently.

“I don't know if it's to do with drugs or what it's to do with, but there's people dying and going missing down here in this little town,” said Donelan. “This stuff never happened before.”

“We live in a beautiful part of the country and we hope to keep it that way,” said Nicklin.

The RCMP are seen at a crime scene in Chipman, N.B., on Nov. 28, 2024. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

SUV removed from crime scene

Investigators were back at the crime scene Thursday; a vehicle was towed from the area around 1 p.m.

The RCMP says its Major Crime Unit (MCU) is leading the investigation into the double-homicide, which they believe is an isolated incident.

No other details about the deaths or victims have been released at this time.

“As these types of investigations can be complex, and also very dynamic in the beginning, a request was made by MCU and the lead investigator that we hold off on releasing any details about the incident while they initiated the investigation,” said Cpl. Hans Ouellette in an email to CTV News.

Police are asking anyone who may have security footage from the area between 8 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday to contact them.

Anyone with any information that could assist investigators is asked to call the RCMP's Major Crime Unit at 1-888-506-RCMP (7267), or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

With files from CTV Atlantic's Derek Haggett

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