Body found in St. John River was male - police
Unknown - Cops need results from autopsy to confirm identity
By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
hmclaugh@dailygleaner.com

The outcome of an autopsy is needed before police can confirm the identity of an adult male pulled from the St. John River near Bourque Lane late Wednesday night.

"At this point, we're waiting for positive identification and cause of death," said RCMP spokesman Sgt. Terry Lee Kennedy.

The RCMP isn't ruling out the deceased man could be 21-year-old Nicholas Pierre Vaillancourt, a suspect in the murder of 20-year-old Andree Danielle O'Brien.

"At this time, I can say that that is a possibility," Kennedy said Thursday.

The autopsy was performed Thursday afternoon in Saint John.

Police were notified Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. that a human body appeared to be floating in the river near Bourque Lane.

Heavy rains over the past few days have increased water flows and current levels in the river.

The Fredericton Fire Department deployed its rescue boat to locate and keep the body contained until the Fredericton Police Force underwater recovery team could recover it.

A coroner was summoned and the body was turned over to the RCMP for follow-up investigation.

Vaillancourt is the only person from the immediate area police suspect could be in the water.

The young man's empty car was found idling on the Westmorland Street Bridge just after 4 a.m. on April 23, a couple of hours before O'Brien's body was discovered by police at her home in Hanwell.

Information found in Vaillancourt's car by Fredericton Police, led police to O'Brien's residence.

Vaillancourt and O'Brien had dated, but had broken up about six months before, said a friend of the couple.

Police launched a search for the young man's body, but a five-day search between the bridge and Carleton Park in late April didn't produce any leads.

Police have not said how O'Brien died, but classified her death a homicide.

Fredericton Police Force spokesman Cpl. Martin Gaudet said the body was turned over to the RCMP because if it turns out to be Vaillancourt's, the RCMP has jurisdiction over the investigation into O'Brien's murder.