Convicted killer committed suicide before bear fed on his body: coroner
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - A coroner says a convicted killer whose body became food for a bear outside of Kamloops, B.C., last May had committed suicide.
The coroner's report says 53-year-old Rory Nelson Wagner of Chilliwack died of a cocaine overdose.
His body was found partially consumed by a bear in a remote area on May 30.
Wagner, who had pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of a Langley man in 1994, had disappeared while on day parole a week before his body was found.
Conservation officers tracked down the bear a short time after Wagner's body was found.
The animal was put down, with Environment Minister Terry Lake saying they didn't want to take the chance that the animal would now view humans as prey. (CFJC)
