‘If anyone has seen Scott Devlin or knows of his whereabouts, please contact the Sault Police,’ a spokesperson said
Police are still not saying much about the homicide or the missing person from 731 Pine St.
Six weeks ago, Scott Devlin went missing.
The 52-year-old left his Pine Street apartment on the morning of June 17, apparently on his way to work – but he never returned.
Two days later, a young woman in the same building, just down the hall from Devlin, was found dead inside her apartment, which was located on the same floor where Devlin lived.
Police promptly announced they were investigating the death as a homicide.
Whether the two incidents are a terrible coincidence or intrinsically linked has not yet come to light.
Police still say – as they have for the past six weeks – that the cases are being investigated independently.
“As previously stated, the homicide investigation and the missing person investigation for Scott Devlin are separate investigations,” said Lincoln Louttit, corporate communications manager with Sault Police, in an email to SooToday.
If anyone has seen Devlin or knows of his whereabouts, please contact the Sault Police, Louttit said.
“Detectives are actively investigating the homicide,” he said.
“When further information is available it will be released to the public.”
Police have not responded to SooToday’s request to interview a detective about the investigations.
Devlin’s brother, Steve, said he doesn’t think his brother was involved in the homicide.
“It’s a totally valid question. I can’t see them being connected,” he said.
In the weeks since Devlin’s disappearance, grisly details about his past circulated on social media – coming as a shock to his coworkers at a local cleaning company, who said they “almost fell over” when they learned of his criminal history.
In the 1990s, Devlin was convicted on two occasions for sexual incidents with young girls.
In 1993, he was sentenced to 90 days in prison for sexually touching a nine-year-old girl.
In 1998, he was sentenced to two years in prison for two counts of sexual assault and two counts of breaching probation orders – again for sexually touching young girls in two separate incidents over the course of May that year.
“No young female child is safe in this community with the likes of Mr. Devlin on the streets,” said provincial court judge Wayne Cohen in a Sault Star article from June 1998.
While police have not released the identity of the homicide victim at the Pine Street apartment, neighbours told SooToday she was a young woman, around 18-20 years old, who kept to herself.
With no definitive answers, the situation has left some to re-evaluate who Devlin really was.
“It doesn’t feel like that’s the person that we know,” his coworker told SooToday.
“That’s the struggle, right? He got along with pretty much everybody.
“He was a great worker and all of the crews liked him.”