The mother of a 33-year-old man found dead last week in a freak accident is calling for safety improvements to the path where her son's body was found.
Chris Tousignant went to buy cigarettes Thursday night but never returned home.
His body was found by a dog walker early Friday morning on a trail near a cul-de-sac on Whitehorn Place – just steps away from home.
A receipt showed that Tousignant made it to the gas station, but never made it back.
“The police said it was slippery, it was dark, wet, because it’s been raining,” said his mother, Debbie Thiele-Tibeault. “I guess on his way back he slipped and went over the rocks, head-first, four to five feet down.”
Thiele-Tibeault said the trail is next to a half-dozen family homes, and she wants the path to be addressed by the City of Langford before any similar accidents happen.
“I would like something done with that site. That’s got to be taken away,” she said. “I don’t want this to happen to anybody else’s child. That was the worst day of my life.”
It’s still unclear who owns the property that the rocky, muddy shortcut leads through, but the city said it’s open to making changes if it can.
“If there’s anything we can do to make our trails safer we’ll be there do that,” said Mayor Stew Young. “We’ll wait for the report from the police and from the city staff.
A makeshift memorial is growing along the trail for Tousignant, who was loved greatly by his friends and family, according to his mother.
His sister has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the family cover funeral costs.
West Shore RCMP ruled out foul play last week, but the BC Coroners Service is still investigating the official cause of death.
With a report from CTV Vancouver Island's Chandler Grieve
