The family of a young Indigenous man who was found dead on the Downtown Eastside says he was only identified by dental records almost two weeks after his body was discovered, and he lay in a morgue while family members searched.
Family and friends of Darius James Rex Smallboy held a small vigil Friday night at the corner of East Hastings Street and Gore Avenue, where the 23 year-old’s body was found on Nov. 4.
His father, Rex Smallboy, said a bystander thought Darius was another Indigenous man who had also been reported missing.
For almost two weeks, family and friends of Darius put up missing posters and spread awareness on social media, hoping to find him alive. But Smallboy says his son’s body was identified through dental records.
“I had forgotten that he had recently had two gold teeth done on his fangs, then when she (lead investigator in Darius’ case) got that information, then that’s when they realized it was him and he was sitting there since the fourth,” Smallboy said.
Darius had recently broken his collarbone and developed an addiction to painkillers. About a week before he went missing, he spent time at his father’s home.
“I had him come and rest there. He was in a pretty bad state, fighting with his chronic pain and finding ways to escape that,” Smallboy said, adding Darius left a few days later and it was unlike him not to be in touch.
Smallboy then filed a missing persons report.
“No parent wants to do that. It’s scary, just the thought of doing that,” he said. “Even just making a missing persons poster, that’s something no parent wants to ever think about having to do.”
But Smallboy says the delay in police identifying his son is a result of systemic racism and police not taking his concerns seriously.
“We all look the same. That’s what it felt like,” he said. “If my son was white, they would have right off the bat identified him.”
In a statement, Sgt. Steve Addison of the Vancouver Police Department said Darius was reported missing on Nov. 7 and “his name and information was entered into a national police database and notifications were sent out to front-line VPD officers,” but he died three days before he was reported missing.
“On Wednesday, we received information from the BC Coroners Service that a previously unidentified man found dead in the Downtown Eastside on Nov. 4 was, in fact, Darius,” Addison said, adding that the BC Coroners Service is the lead agency responsible for the investigation.
Addison confirmed the VPD is not conducting a criminal investigation.
The BC Coroners Service said the investigation remains open and it could not disclose any information at this time.
