Police announce charges in death of young B.C. mom killed five years ago

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – Charges have been laid in the death of a 22-year-old woman whose body was found five years ago in the Fraser Valley community of Mission.

A spokesman with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says Gary Losch, who is in his 60s, has been charged with second-degree murder and indignity to human remains in connection with the death of Chelsey Gauthier.

Sgt. Timothy Pierotti says in a release that Gauthier left behind two children.

He says the woman’s family reported her missing to the Abbotsford Police Department on July 30, 2017.

Pierotti says her body was found in a remote area of Mission nearly three weeks later, and IHIT then took over the investigation.

He says Losch was identified as a suspect over the course of the five-year investigation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2022.