Suspicious hospital death probed as homicide, chief confirms

Serena Perry was found in the hospital's amphitheatre. (Courtesy of Castle Funeral Home)

Saint John police are treating the death of a young psychiatric patient at the Saint John Regional Hospital in February as a homicide, Chief Bill Reid has confirmed.

And officers are getting closer to laying charges against the male suspect, who is not currently in custody, he said.

Serena Perry, 22, was found dead in the hospital's amphitheatre on Valentine's Day.

Up until now, police have only referred to the case as a "suspicious death" and have not released any details about how Perry died.

But on Tuesday, Reid told CBC News the evidence points to a homicide.

"The evidence would lead us to believe that, yes," he said.

"If we get our ducks in a row here and if everybody agrees — and that's between pathology, the Crown and obviously police — that this is a homicide, then obviously that's the way we'll go."

Reid says some of the DNA and pathology evidence investigators were waiting for recently came back from third-party forensic labs.

Charges up to Crown

"There's just a little bit of work left on that particular file and we'll probably present something to the Crown," he said.

"It will be up to the Crown to accept the evidence that we have and if they don't believe that we have a prima facie case then there may be some more work to do, but you know, we're getting close."

The murder over the weekend in the city's south end could slow progress down a bit by tying up investigators, the chief said.

Michael Thomas Schimpf, 31, was gunned down near the Bacchus Motorcycle Club on Pitt Street on Saturday at about 8 p.m.

Matthew Thomas Foley, 50, who is the president of the local chapter of Bacchus, has been charged with second-degree murder and is scheduled to return to court next month to set a date for a preliminary inquiry.

"It goes back to the question relative to — are you stretching your resources," said Reid.

The criminal investigations division only has about 25 officers and some of them are involved in both cases.

"So it's going to take a little bit of time for them to … get back to what needs to be done there to present that to the Crown," he said.

Still, Reid said he hopes to have the file completed within the month — "unless something else hits the fan, as they say."

Many patients in the Saint John Regional Hospital's psychiatric unit are free to come and go, just like anyone else in the hospital. They can leave the unit to go for a smoke, visit the cafeteria, or just to stretch their legs.

It's unclear whether any hospital policies have changed following Perry's death because Horizon Health Network officials have refused to discuss the matter, saying only that there is no risk to patient safety.

The Saint John Regional Hospital is the province's largest hospital, which thousands of people pass through every day.

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