B.C. police rule out foul play in 2023 homicide investigation

An RCMP patch is worn by an officer at RCMP "E" Division headquarters in Surrey, B.C., on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Nearly three years after police opened a homicide investigation into the death of a 37-year-old man in northern British Columbia, investigators now say the death was not the result of foul play.

Mounties responded to the sudden death at a home in the 600 block of 106 Avenue in Dawson Creek at around 3 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2023.

The victim was found inside the home and was identified as 37-year-old Byron Horne.

“Given the circumstances identified during the initial stages of the investigation, the death was treated as a homicide and the North District Major Crime Unit assumed conduct of the investigation,” the provincial RCMP said in an update on the case Friday.

The investigation has now determined Horne’s death was not the result of foul play. Instead, police said his injuries “were self-inflicted and that no criminality was involved.”

B.C. RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Brett Urano said in a statement that police “remained committed to conducting a comprehensive and objective investigation to determine exactly what occurred.”

He said the investigation involved “the careful assessment of all available evidence and investigative avenues” before determining that “no criminal offence had occurred.”