A memorial for Wade Hart stands near the site of an encampment fire that was doused on Jan. 20, 2024.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Flowers, a cross and a photo are attached to trees near the site of a fire and the death of a homeless man in Kamloops.

Wade Leroy Hart is named in the memorial just west of the Red Bridge, where the 56-year-old's body was found in the burnt remains of an encampment.

"Rest in paradise, our dear friend," reads a message written in pink marker on the bark of a birch tree and signed by Shannon L. and Murray L.

He was born May 5, 1967, and died Jan. 20, 2024, according to the dates on a cross that is part of the memorial. Bouquets have been attached to the trees just off the trail and deeper in the bush where the fire consumed his camp on Jan. 20.

Local non-profit workers who work with the homeless community contacted by iNFOnews.ca were not able to confirm his identity. There appears to be no death notice online for Hart, nor anyone else in Kamloops who died on the same day.

Meanwhile, the BC Coroners Service and Kamloops RCMP won't confirm the identity of the deceased.

The memorial is the only connection tying Hart to the fire.

Electronic court records between 2011 and 2018 match his birth date, with some documents placing him in Kamloops.

Debris from Hart's camp was piled in a heap on Feb. 3, 2024, after police cleared the scene. Much of the pile was not burned.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The public was first alerted to the discovery four days after the fire when police said someone cleaning the site found "suspicious debris."

iNFOnews.ca learned the next morning it was a body.

Kamloops Fire Rescue has so far refused to comment on the fact that human remains were found four days after they doused the fire.

Police kept the area closed to the public for days after the discovery, taping off the scene and covering two areas with tents.

On Feb. 1, RCMP said his death was not considered suspicious.

The burnt remains of Hart's camp were later cleaned up, but there are still plastic wrappers and pieces of rope at the site. Some scattered police tape remains tied to a tree.

If not for the memorial, the faint burning smell and a flattened space where a tent once stood, along with the lack of debris leaves little trace that anyone camped there.

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News from © iNFOnews, 2024