CALGARY—Police are expecting second-degree murder charges to be filed in the disappearance case of 25-year-old Jasmine Lovett and her 22-month-old daughter Aliyah Sanderson after remains were found in Kananaskis early Monday. Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta of the Calgary Police Service’s homicide unit said Monday afternoon that a suspect was arrested hours after the discovery. Though police will not confirm the suspect’s name, they said the person arrested two weeks ago is in custody again. He will not be identified until charges are formally brought against him by a justice of the peace. “We believe the suspect and Jasmine were in a relationship and that this was a targeted attack motivated by domestic-related matters,” Schiavetta said. Two weeks ago, a man who identified himself as 34-year-old Robert Leeming told CTV News that he’d been arrested and questioned in connection with the disappearances. Leeming identified himself at that time as Lovett’s landlord and said he was innocent. He told reporters he last saw Lovett on the Thursday night before the Easter weekend. The investigation into the disappearances of Lovett and Sanderson, who had been missing since April 16, led police to “a heavily wooded area” near Grizzly Creek, a day-use area off Highway 40. Schiavetta said the investigation “picked up momentum over the last few days,” which led officers to locate the bodies a short distance from the road. Autopsies were expected to begin later on Monday. “To protect the integrity of this investigation and future court proceedings, police are unable to release details about what led to the discovery of the bodies,” a police statement reads. Read more: Family ‘shattered’ as search continues for Calgary woman and daughter presumed dead Disappearance of Calgary mom, daughter being investigated as homicides Aunt desperate to know what happened to missing Calgary toddler and her mother Police believe Lovett and her daughter were killed between April 16 and April 17, but weren’t taken to the Grizzly Creek area until some time between April 17 and April 20. It isn’t yet clear to police where they died; Schiavetta said investigators are still waiting on results from the RCMP’s crime lab. The announcement ends days of uncertainty, after Lovett and Sanderson were first reported missing when they didn’t show up to a family gathering. A statement from the Lovett family on Monday afternoon extends “heartfelt gratitude” to Calgary police as well as those who participated in the search. “We would also like to thank the public for their continued support, which has meant a great deal to us. Our lives have been devastated and our hearts are heavy. We are trying to understand how this tragedy could have happened to our loved ones,” the statement reads. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Days after the search began, investigators told reporters they believed the mother and daughter were dead, pointing to a lack of cellphone and financial activity. Police searched a Mercedes-Benz SUV and a Cranston home as part of their investigation. Cellphone data also led investigators to Bragg Creek, Priddis, and Kananaskis — as well as rural areas in the Rocky Mountain foothills. Heavy snowstorms last week delayed the search. Read more about:<doc-sep>Share this Story: Bodies believed to be Calgary woman and daughter found in Kananaskis Country Bodies believed to be Calgary woman and daughter found in Kananaskis Country Photo by Mike Drew/Postmedia Article content Calgary police have located the bodies of a woman and child believed to be that of Jasmine Lovett and her 22-month-old daughter Aliyah Sanderson, missing and believed murdered for nearly three weeks. Robert Leeming, 34, was arrested just after 11 a.m. and taken into custody on Monday morning. On Tuesday morning, Leeming was charged with two counts of second-degree murder. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Bodies believed to be Calgary woman and daughter found in Kananaskis Country Back to video Photo by Mike Drew/Postmedia The mother and daughter had been living in a townhouse with Leeming for about seven months, but were reported missing after they failed to show up for a family dinner on April 23. Leeming, originally from the U.K., was first arrested on April 25 in connection to the case and released the next day without charges. Calgary police Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta said Lovett and Leeming were romantically involved and called the murders “a targeted attack motivated by domestic-related matters.” Photo by Gavin Young/Postmedia Police say they located the bodies around 4 a.m. Monday in Kananaskis. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Schiavetta said police suspect that Lovett and Sanderson were murdered either the evening of April 16 or the early morning hours of April 17. Police believe their bodies were moved to the Kananaskis area between April 17 and April 20. The investigation led officers to a heavily wooded area near Grizzly Creek, located off Highway 40, where the bodies were found. Autopsies were expected to begin Monday and police will officially identify the bodies once a postmortem has been completed, adding the causes of death are not expected to be released. While Schiavetta said the service received more than 250 tips in the case, investigators are unable to release details about what led to the discovery of the bodies in order “to protect the integrity of this investigation and future court proceedings.” “The investigative process gained significant momentum over the last few days and we were certainly satisfied to locate the bodies, but at the same time it’s a very sad feeling when you have to notify the families of that,” Schiavetta said. More On This Topic Double murder suspect Robert Leeming makes first court appearance Bragg Creek locals on edge over potential homicide investigation in their backyard K-Country is tough terrain in search for missing mom and child Suspect in double homicide says he's broke and alone; police say evidence may have been burned In a statement, the Lovett family thanked Calgary police “as well as those who have worked diligently in the search for Jasmine and her baby girl Aliyah.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content “We would also like to thank the public for their continued support which has meant a great deal to us,” the family stated. “Our lives have been devastated and our hearts are heavy. We are trying to understand how this tragedy could have happened to our loved ones.” Family members of Lovett and Sanderson had said they were in “absolute agony” for nearly three weeks, the time police say the mother and daughter were missing. The two had last been seen in the southeast Calgary community of Cranston on April 16. Police say that’s the last day investigators have evidence the two were alive, despite Lovett’s financial records showing an online purchase two days later. Their disappearance was being investigated as a possible double homicide but poor weather kept search and rescue teams away from the Bragg Creek area, west of Calgary, since April 27, where investigators say evidence in the case may have been burned. Police had previously told Postmedia on Monday morning that the search for the pair had remained stalled. Amber Sanderson, Lovett’s former sister-in-law and Aliyah’s aunt, told Postmedia on Monday that the family was feeling desperate after weeks of waiting, saying all they want are “answers and closure.” She said members of the Sanderson family were meeting with investigators on Monday, a few hours before police revealed the bodies had been located. “We are in absolute agony, we just want an answer,” Amber said, adding that Robbie, her brother and Aliyah’s father, “isn’t really talking to many people” since the disappearance. Leeming, who has said he is the primary suspect in the case, has spoken to Postmedia multiple times since he was arrested on April 25. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or He said Sunday there were “no words” to express what he’s feeling about his tenants’ disappearances and being named the suspect. A neighbour who lives in the Cranston condo complex where Lovett and Sanderson lived said he had seen Leeming fairly often, adding that Leeming kept to himself. “All I can tell you is he spent a lot of time in the garage. He didn’t seem to go to a job,” said the man, who declined to be named. The neighbour added he would frequently see Leeming, his ex-wife and their son before the couple split up but had only seen Lovett and Sanderson once before, about a week before they disappeared. The man also said he saw police attend the Leeming residence in 2018, around the same time Leeming pleaded guilty to three animal cruelty charges. Photo by Postmedia Archives Another neighbour who lives in the condo complex says she is relieved a suspect is in custody. “It’s awful, I can’t believe it,” the woman, who declined to be named due to concerns for her safety, said of the incident.<doc-sep>Police in Calgary believe they have found the bodies of a missing woman and toddler who were reported missing nearly two weeks ago. The suspected remains of Jasmine Lovett and her 22-month-old daughter Aliyah Sanderson were found in a heavily wooded part of Kananaskis Country, a wilderness area on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Police say they have rearrested a man they briefly took into custody two weeks ago, but are not identifying him until charges are laid. That was expected to happen later Monday or Tuesday. Story continues below advertisement Robert Leeming, 34, previously told news media outlets that he was the one police questioned and that Ms. Lovett and the child lived in his southeast Calgary home. He has said he is innocent. Autopsies were to begin Monday, but the cause of death was not expected to be released. Police aren’t saying what led to the discovery of the bodies at about 4 a.m. Monday to protect the integrity of the investigation and future court proceedings. The last time Ms. Lovett and the girl were seen was on April 16. An online purchase was made from Ms. Lovett’s bank account two days later, but police have said they don’t know if she was the one who made the purchase. Loved ones reported the pair missing after they failed to show up for a family dinner. The child’s paternal aunt has said Ms. Lovett broke up with the aunt’s brother Robbie Sanderson, Aliyah’s father, several months ago, and that she had moved in with another man.<doc-sep>Calgary resident Robert Leeming has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Jasmine Lovett, 25, and her toddler Aliyah Sanderson, 22 months. Leeming, 34, who had lived with Lovett and her daughter in the townhouse he owns, was brought to the arrest processing unit just after 11 p.m. MT Monday. He made a brief CCTV appearance before a justice of the peace Tuesday morning. His first court appearance will be May 14. "I can tell you that this is obviously a very stressful time for him, but beyond that, the case is just so new, so fresh, that there isn't a lot that we can give you at this point in time," said Leeming's lawyer, Balfour Der. Der said they will pursue bail "if it's reasonable and can be done," but in the meantime, Leeming will be housed at the Calgary Remand Centre. "I can't speak to whether there are safety concerns," said Der. "It is something that's always on your mind for people charged with these types of offences, and we just hope that the guards at the remand centre will do their bit. The man is innocent until proven guilty and he should be treated the same as anybody else who's in there, and that means he gets protections as anybody else should get." Bodies found on Monday The charges come one day after police said they found two bodies in Kananaskis, just west of Calgary, that they believed were the mother and daughter. Calgary police had said the disappearance of Lovett and her daughter, who were last seen on April 16, was being treated as a homicide case. The bodies were found around 4 a.m. MT on Monday. "The investigation led officers to a heavily wooded area near Grizzly Creek located off Highway 40, where the bodies were discovered," Calgary Police Service said in a news release Monday. Lovett and her daughter, Aliyah Sanderson, 22 months, had not been heard from since April 16 and were reported missing on April 23, police say. (Lovett family) The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner completed the preliminary autopsies on Tuesday, and formally identified the two victims as Lovett and Sanderson. "The cause of death of both victims is not expected to be released," police said. The Lovett family released a statement Monday afternoon thanking police and others involved in the search. "We would also like to thank the public for their continued support which has meant a great deal to us," it said. "Our lives have been devastated and our hearts are heavy. We are trying to understand how this tragedy could have happened to our loved ones." 'Holding up OK' A friend of Lovett's mother who started a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral expenses, said the family is "holding up OK," thanks to lots of support from friends and family. "The biggest thing for her was that they were lying in the dirt somewhere and now that they've got them, they've found them, that's just brought her an amazing amount of peace," said Dana Burrows of Lovett's mom. Burrows said any money raised in excess of funeral costs will go to a domestic violence shelter and could be also be used to start something in Lovett and her daughter's names. "It's too late for Jasmine and Aliyah now, but hopefully their names will make a difference somewhere." 'On and off' romance Early in the investigation, police said they had a suspect in custody and later released him without charge. Although they did not identify him, Leeming told reporters in late April he had been taken into custody two weeks earlier and remained a suspect. Leeming has confirmed that Lovett and Aliyah had been his tenants since October. Officers on horseback search near Priddis, Alta., in late April. Leeming told reporters he had gone out to the Bragg Creek area for a picnic with Lovett and her daughter on April 17. (Tim Propp/CBC ) He also said he and Lovett had been romantically involved "on and off." Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta said Monday that Leeming and Lovett were in a "domestic relationship which deteriorated over a period of time." Leeming told reporters he had gone out to the Bragg Creek area, west of Calgary, for a picnic with the mother and daughter on April 17, and he last saw them the evening of April 18. Police, however, said they were last seen on the evening of April 16 at their home in the southeast Calgary neighbourhood of Cranston. Lovett's financial accounts were last active April 18, when a card was used to make an online purchase, police said. Investigators had not been able to confirm Lovett was the one who made that purchase. Her family became aware of her disappearance after she didn't show up at a family dinner. Watch the video below to see Calgary police Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta give an update Monday afternoon after the bodies were found. Schiavetta said on Monday it's believed Lovett and Sanderson were killed between the evening of April 16 and the morning of April 17, and their bodies transported to the Grizzly Creek area between April 17 and April 20. Police had been searching in the area of Bragg Creek, Elbow Falls, Priddis and East Kananaskis, but were hampered due to recent snowfall. "The investigative process picked up momentum over the last few days which led us to locate the bodies early this morning," Schiavetta said, adding that few details would be released as they would be crucial to trial evidence. Animal cruelty charges Last year, Leeming pleaded guilty to three animal cruelty charges after leaving his dog chained to a tree. He had left the dog there to die after telling his ex-wife he had given the animal away. Four days later, a peace officer found the dog in distress. According to divorce documents, Leeming's ex-wife called him "cruel" and, in the weeks before their separation, she worried he had been planning to kill her. Police were on scene in Kananaskis near where the bodies were found on Monday. (Mike Symington/CBC)<doc-sep>
For the latest developments, see: Robert Leeming charged with 2 counts of second-degree murder in deaths of mother and child Two bodies believed to be those of a mother and her toddler who went missing on April 16 have been found west of Calgary in Kananaskis, and police say second-degree murder charges are pending against a suspect. Calgary police said the bodies were found around 4 a.m. MT on Monday. The disappearance of Jasmine Lovett and her 22-month-old daughter, Aliyah Sanderson, was being treated as a homicide. "The investigation led officers to a heavily wooded area near Grizzly Creek located off Highway 40, where the bodies were discovered," Calgary Police Service said in a news release. "Autopsies are expected to begin today. Formal identification of the deceased will be done by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The cause of death of both victims is not expected to be released." Calgary police bring Robert Leeming into the arrest processing unit late Monday night. Leeming owns the townhouse where Lovett and her daughter had been living, and had said he and Lovett were romantically involved 'on and off.' (Julie Debeljak/CBC) Police say a suspect has been taken into custody and second-degree murder charges should be laid by Monday evening. They said the suspect will not be identified until he is charged, but that he is the same person taken into custody two weeks ago. There are no additional suspects at this time, police said. The Lovett family released a statement Monday afternoon thanking police and others involved in the search. Officers on horseback search near Priddis, Alta., in late April. Leeming told reporters he had gone out to the Bragg Creek area for a picnic with Lovett and her daughter on April 17. (Tim Propp/CBC ) "We would also like to thank the public for their continued support which has meant a great deal to us. Our lives have been devastated and our hearts are heavy. We are trying to understand how this tragedy could have happened to our loved ones," the statement said. 'On and off' romance While police did not identify the suspect, Robert Leeming told reporters in late April he had been taken into custody two weeks ago and remained a suspect. Leeming owned the townhouse where Lovett and her daughter were living. He confirmed that Lovett and Aliyah had been living there as tenants since October. He also said that he and Lovett had been romantically involved "on and off." Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta said the suspect and Lovett were in a "domestic relationship which deteriorated over a period of time." Leeming told reporters that he had gone out to the Bragg Creek area, west of Calgary, for a picnic with the mother and daughter on April 17, and he last saw them in the evening of April 18. Police were on scene in Kananaskis near where the bodies were found on Monday. (Mike Symington/CBC) Police, however, said they were last seen on the evening of April 16 at their home in the southeast Calgary neighbourhood of Cranston. Lovett's financial accounts were last active April 18, when a card was used to make an online purchase, police said. Investigators had not been able to confirm Lovett was the one who made that purchase. Her family became aware of her disappearance after she didn't show up at a family dinner. Schiavetta said its believed Lovett and Sanderson were killed between the evening of April 16 and the morning of April 17, and that their bodies were transported to the Grizzly Creek area between April 17 and April 20. Police had been searching in the area of Bragg Creek, Elbow Falls, Priddis and East Kananaskis, but were hampered due to recent snowfall. "The investigative process picked up momentum over the last few days which led us to locate the bodies early this morning," Schiavetta said, adding that few details would be released at this time as they will be crucial to evidence presented at trial. Animal cruelty charges Last year, Leeming pleaded guilty to three animal cruelty charges after leaving his dog chained to a tree. He had left the dog there to die after telling his ex-wife he'd given the animal away. Four days later, a peace officer found the dog in distress. According to divorce documents, Leeming's ex-wife called him "cruel" and, in the weeks before their separation, she worried he planned to kill her.