NEWS FILE PHOTO
The Medicine Hat Police major crimes section investigate the death of James Satre at the corner of Mill Street and Smelter Avenue on Oct. 11.
Police believe that the murder of a man on Mill Street in Medicine Hat earlier this month could be part of something larger.
Medicine Hat police called a press conference for Wednesday afternoon stating they now believe the homicide is related to an extortion case they were investigating separately.
However, they are working to determine how, if at all, the murder victim was connected to the other crime.
“Investigators have not ruled out that the homicide victim was selected by the offender or offenders, in an attempt to further the extortion attempt,” a release states.
Police state the two cases have not been definitively linked, but they have reason to believe they could be related.
More information was to be made available at an afternoon press conference.
Anyone with information related to either investigation is asked to contact the Medicine Hat Police Service at 403-581-1050 or provide at tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Officers responded to a ambulance call on the morning of Oct. 11 were a body had been found in an alley near the intersection of Mill Street and Smelter Avenue.
The victim, since identified as James Satre, lived in the home next to the laneway that stretched into fallow field near the Canadain Pacific rail line.
At the time, police said they wee searching for a possible motive behind the violent death.
Satre was described as quiet and not known to police. Residents of the area in the South Flats neighbourhood described it as out of the way and not known for crime.
