Human remains found on trail

What are believed to be human remains were discovered Friday near Long Lake, along what is commonly referred to as the Bypass Trail, Whitehorse RCMP said today.

What are believed to be human remains were discovered Friday near Long Lake, along what is commonly referred to as the Bypass Trail, Whitehorse RCMP said today.

Sgt. Don Rogers said today the remains have been sent to Vancouver for forensic identification.

At this point, police do not believe the remains are fresh, nor the subject of any current investigations, he said.

Rogers said the forensic work will help determine the age and sex of the deceased, and how long they might have been there.

The remains were discovered at around 4:30 p.m. Friday by a mountain biker on the trial system approximately 3.3 kilometres northeast of the lake.

Officers and the police dog Ryder responded and began conducting a search of the area until it got dark.

“Officers camped out and secured the site, and the next day when there was enough daylight, conducted an extensive search of the area,” Rogers explained, adding the search area involved a 1.5-kilometre radius around the site where the remains were found.

Rogers said police are not describing what was found for investigative purposes, and out of respect for anyone who may be related.

“The remains are not fresh,” he said.

Nor do police police believe they are of a historic nature, unearthed from an old grave site.

“But we cannot confirm that until we do the forensic analysis,” Rogers said.