The Ottawa police marine unit has pulled a body from the Rideau River which is believed to be that of a London, Ont., murder suspect.
It’s believed that the dead man pulled from the river is Muhab Sultanaly Sultan, 23, who is wanted for second-degree murder in the June 14 shooting death of 18-year-old Jeremy Cook, in London. Cook had been trying to retrieve a lost cellphone and was killed after confronting a group of men, whom he believed had the device.
Ottawa police contacted the father of the suspect in the London cellphone killing, asking him where they could find dental records of his son. Sultan Sultan said Saturday night that, after acquiring the dental records, police told him they would be able to tell him Monday whether it was his son’s body in the river.
“I heard that they found a body today at the river, but they cannot confirm if that’s my son’s body or not,” he said. “It’s just painful for a parent who doesn’t have answers to all these questions.”
Sultan said he will fly to Ottawa on Sunday night to be in the capital when the results come in.
Ottawa police Insp. John Madeiros said a member of the public reported a body in the river at 8:55 a.m. Saturday. The police marine dive team searched a section of the river near North River Road in New Edinburgh, south of Beechwood Avenue, and recovered the body of a man.
The province’s Special Investigations Unit has invoked its mandate and is handling the case. The SIU investigates cases in which people die or are seriously injured during contact with the police.
SIU spokesman Lenard Shaw said the Office of the Chief Coroner will conduct an autopsy on the body once it has been positively identified. Four investigators have been assigned to the case.
Muhab Sultanaly Sultan was being sought in connection with the high-profile slaying of a teenager trying to trace a missing cellphone in London, Ont.
Muhab Sultanaly Sultan apparently fled to Ottawa where he was allegedly involved in an incident with the Ottawa police earlier this week.
During a traffic stop Wednesday afternoon at Rideau Street and King Edward Avenue, police say Sultan steered his vehicle toward two bicycle patrol officers. One officer was struck and suffered minor injuries.
Police pursued the vehicle from the Rideau Street traffic stop to Wiggins Private, near the Strathcona Heights Community Garden. A male passenger was taken into custody, but the driver escaped into a nearby wooded area.
Efforts to find him with a tracking dog were unsuccessful, but hours later police received calls from residents about a suspicious man in the area of Range Road and Mann Avenue. He was seen trying to swim across the Rideau River.
According to a subsequent Ottawa police media release, officers rushed to the scene and two of them went into the water after the man, who was showing signs of distress. “As the officers got closer to the suspect,” the release said, “he went under the water and has yet to be located.”
Sultan was the subject of a Canada-wide warrant in the slaying of Cook, a college student who had used an online app to trace his missing cellphone to a parking lot in London. He confronted three men in a car. When the driver stepped on the gas, Cook held onto the car’s door frame. He was later shot and his body left behind a drug store. His discarded cell phone was recovered by police.
Sultan said that while he does not believe his son could be a murderer, previous brushes with the law have left the family with a distrust of police. He said his son was in jail twice as a teenager.
“We’ve had very bad experiences with police in the past, especially my son,” he said.
Cook’s death has attracted wide attention and prompted warnings about the risks of software applications that track stolen phones and other devices.
