Human remains found in Regina yard in June identified: Police

The human remains discovered in the backyard of a home on Retallack Street in Regina in June have been identified.

According to the Regina Police Service, officers were called to the area on June 9 after a resident reported discovering the remains outside their home. Police then spent a week searching the area, working alongside the Saskatchewan Coroners Service and RCMP Historical Case Unit.

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• Regina police investigating after discovery of human remains

Regina police said the victim was identified as Wayne Joseph Breed, who would have been 34 years old. His family has been notified.

Regina police chief Lorilee Davies said tips from the public led to a request for a DNA match through the RCMP’s national database, and a match was confirmed earlier this week.

“Some of that information did help us to have a lead, and then get DNA and send that DNA away for analysis,” Regina police chief Lorilee Davies said.

Breed was not listed in any missing-person databases, making it more difficult for investigators to identify him. Davies said he was from Regina and his family remains in the area.

“Now we know who the victim was, but I think that sort of opens the door to a larger investigation,” Davies added.

With Breed’s identity confirmed, police are now trying to determine when and how he died, and how his remains came to be behind the Retallack Street home.

“It’s not common to have someone’s remains uncovered in a backyard, and so that in itself obviously leads to suspicion,” the police chief said.

Davies said all possibilities are being considered as investigators work to build a timeline and reconstruct the circumstances surrounding Breed’s death.

Speaking to 980 CJME in June, Daniel Woodley said he discovered the remains behind the home he rents after finding trash in a corner of the yard.

“I found garbage buried in the corner over here,” he said while pointing to a shaded area. “I kept digging, digging, try to get rid of it, and basically I found a foot.”

He said the tenants that lived at the home previously left behind a backyard riddled with rubbish. Woodley’s family has only lived on the property since December, but when the snow began to melt, he said it revealed garbage, broken glass and needles.

Woodley said he was trying to create a safe place for his kids to play, when he found a sock about two feet deep in the ground.

“I didn’t really think much of it till I picked it up, and all the bones fell out of it,” he said.

Woodley called the police to let them know what he’d found, and said the search warrant he received indicated the body was wrapped in a tarp.

–with files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie and Jacob Bamhour