Screen grab from the MarrisaShen.org website
A 28-year-old man has been charged with the murder of 13-year-old Marrisa Shen.
Ibrahim Ali had a first-degree murder charge sworn against on Saturday. Superintendent Donna Richardson with the RCMP鈥檚 Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said Ali was a Syrian national with permanent residency in Canada.
The charges, announced at a press conference Monday morning, came more than a year after Shen鈥檚 body was found in Central Park on July 18, 2017.
Richardson said Ali only came to the attention of investigators two weeks ago, after one of the longest and most resource-incentive investigations in the unit鈥檚 history. More than 1,300 residents were canvassed, 600 interviews conducted and 1,000 hours of video from 60 different locations were reviewed as part of the investigation, she said.
More than 2,000 persons of interest we identified and later eliminated as possible suspects in the last 14 months, Richardson said.
Richardson said Ali was a Burnaby resident who came to Canada as a refugee 17 months ago. Ali allegedly killed Shen approximately three months after arriving in the country.
Burnaby RCMP鈥檚 Chief Supt. Deanne Burleigh said her detachment has been working hard to a sense of safety in the city. Her officers reamped up patrols following the murder to 鈥渆nsure everyone can feel safe,鈥� she said.
Shen鈥檚 body was found in Central Park last July, but police have had few updates since.
Earlier this summer, on the anniversary of the teen鈥檚 death, police said no suspects had been identified, despite investigators following up on 200 tips from the general public, reviewing 1,000 hours of video and conducting more than 600 interviews.
IHIT had used the one-year anniversary to renew calls for any information from the public that might advance the investigation.
Shen was last seen at 7:38 p.m. on July 18, 2017 on the south side of Central Boulevard crossing McKay Avenue walking west.
She was reported missing four hours later, and her body was found in the early morning hours of the following day after Burnaby Mounties used GPS to track her cell phone.
Just over a week later, IHIT announced investigators believed Shen鈥檚 death was the result of a random attack.
A small memorial to 13-year-old Marrisa Shen remains near an entrance to Burnaby鈥檚 Central Park a year after the teen was found dead in the park. Photo Cornelia Naylor
