Curtis Sagmoen leaving the Vernon courthouse, June 19, 2020.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

RCMP have confirmed the investigation into the death of 18-year-old Traci Genereaux still remains open, despite the fact that the man assumed to be the main suspect has died.

Curtis Sagmoen died in a Vernon motel room last month, almost eight years after the Genereaux's remains were discovered on his family's rural North Okanagan property in October 2017.

"We're all pretty sure he was the one that did it," Genereaux's grandmother Darcy Martin told iNFOnews.ca.

Martin said police have never told her how or when Genereaux died.

"All we know is when she went missing and when she was found and where she was found," Martin said.

The 18-year-old went missing in May 2017, her remains were found five months later.

Police officers at a rural property on Salmon River Road Oct. 19, 2017.

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Sagmoen had a history of violence towards women and was always assumed to have been the main suspect, although he was never charged, in relation to Genereaux's death.

As the investigation remains open, we may never know how Genereaux died and the extent to which Sagmoen was a suspect.

The BC Coroners Service won't release the report into Genereaux's death as the investigation remains open, and because the investigation is open, the RCMP won't comment further.

This leaves Genereaux's death open to speculation.

However, there is no doubt police thought Sagmoen was a suspect in something, otherwise police wouldn’t have conducted a week-long search of his family’s Salmon River Road property. It was during that search they uncovered Genereaux’s body.

Four other women had also gone missing in the area, Ashley Simpson, Deanna Wertz, Caitlin Potts and Nicole Bell. Simpson's boyfriend Derek Favell was later convicted of Simpson's murder. The three other women still remain unaccounted for.

In the months leading up to his arrest, and the search of his parent’s property, Sagmoen was involved in several violent acts towards women.

Sagmoen was charged for an alleged assault on a sex worker that took place July 1 2017, but it was later stayed.

The Sagmoen property under police guard Oct. 27, 2017.

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON - REPORTER / iNFOnews.ca)

Weeks later, that same month, Sagmoen used a homemade spike belt to flatten the tires of a woman driving on Salmon River Road. He was later convicted for mischief but received a conditional discharge – the lowest sentence possible.

A month later in August 2017, Sagmoen purposely drove his quad bike into a sex worker he’d called to his family’s property. The woman received a broken tailbone and several other injuries. He was later sentenced to five months jail, but didn’t see a jail cell having credit for time in pre-trial custody.

Two weeks after the quad bike incident, Sagmoen ambushed another sex worker, wearing a mask and pointing a gun at her as she drove down his long rural driveway at night. The woman fled, terrified.

Following a week long trial in 2019, Sagmoen was convicted for the ambush, but released on 36 months probation as he’d spent more than two years in custody prior to the trial.

Evidence presented during the trial showed that Sagmoen had a history of callings sex worker to the property. Cars of people would arrive looking for him, once telling his neighbour that Sagmoen owed him money.

In 2018, one escort told iNFOnews.ca that she’d been called to the Salmon River Road the previous summer and found Sagmoen smoking meth, acting strange and talking to himself. She didn’t stick around and took off unscathed.

Video of his police interview was also played during the trial, his voice difficult to understand as he wasn’t wearing his false teeth. Severe tooth decay is often associated with methamphetamine use, and meth was found on him during his arrest.

The police interview also showed he had a daughter from a past relationship, although in 2017 hadn’t seen her in eight years.

After Sagmoen’s arrest in 2017, police also dug up an old file on Sagmoen that dated back to 2013 when he lived in Maple Ridge with his brother.

The large rural property at 2290 Salmon River Road is wrapped in police tape Oct. 25, 2017.

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

In 2018, he was convicted for the 2013 assault where he hit a sex worker with a hammer in a dispute over money. He was sentenced to 30 days jail, but was already in custody. At the time the sex worker didn’t want to pursue the matter and it was the neighbours who called the police saying a woman was being chased by a man yelling that he’d hit her with a hammer.

While Sagmoen was eventually convicted of numerous attacks on women, the longest sentence he was given was two years, and he was largely out of custody after December 2019.

However, he did breach he is probation on a number of occasions and his movements appear to have been closely watched by the RCMP.

In December 2023, he was convicted for contacting a sex worker and possessing a cell phone and drugs – all violations of his probation order. And last year, he spent four days in jail after police found an old shotgun cartridge in his glovebox.

Curtis Sagmoen leaves the Vernon courthouse, Sept. 9, 2019.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

During a search of his parents home in 2022, Sagmoen was charged with assaulting a police officer. However, the charge was later stayed and the court heard how he’d slammed into the officer while under arrest and in handcuffs.

For more stories on Curtis Sagmoen go here.

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