The homicide unit is investigating after the body of a woman in her 50s was found in a southeast Calgary hotel on Thursday.
EMS responded to the Town & Country Motor Hotel at around noon on Thursday for a general medical concern, said spokesperson Stuart Brideaux.
Paramedics enacted no measures and turned the scene over to police.
Members of the Calgary Police Service forensics unit were on the scene at the Town and Country Motor Hotel in Forest Lawn on Nov. 5, 2015.
“We originally responded to a check on welfare,” said Duty Insp. Michael Watterston. “It wasn’t until a medical investigator attended the scene that we transitioned into a suspicious death protocol.”
Police are now looking to speak with 43-year-old Joseph Jean Nathan Fortier, who goes by Nathan Fortier. They believe he is the boyfriend of the deceased woman and that he has information “critical” to the investigation, Watterston said.
Fortier is described as 5’9″, Aboriginal, about 130lbs with a shaved head and a soul patch. Watterston wouldn’t say if Fortier is being considered as a suspect.
There was a light police presence outside the hotel on Thursday afternoon, with two police vehicles parked in the lot. Officers could be seen entering the building carrying white protective coveralls.
The general manager of the hotel declined to comment on the death of the woman. It’s unclear if she was a patron of the hotel.
In 2002, Selby Warren was killed in a fatal fist fight with Gerry Jay White outside the hotel.
This is the second suspicious death in the city this week. On Tuesday afternoon, 26-year-old Janel Squirrel was found dead in the basement of a Whitehorn home. Her boyfriend is charged with manslaughter in her death.
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