Police believed human remains, pig mask, gun would be found at Richard Mantha's rental property

WARNING: This article contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.

Calgary police believed that a five-day search of the rural property Richard Robert Mantha was renting near Chestermere would turn up human remains, a firearm and illicit drugs, according to a search warrant viewed by CTV News. 

Mantha, 59, is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least three Calgary sex trade workers. He faces 16 charges, including sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault causing bodily harm, kidnapping and forcible confinement.

According to the search warrant, other items police were looking for included:

• A pig mask;
• Bodily substances including but not limited to blood and DNA;
• Pubic hair;
• A cellphone; 
• A knife;
• Clothing belonging to one of the victims; and
• A sex toy. 

Police expected the evidence investigators collected would also lead to a charge of "indignation of a human body."

CPS executed the search warrant at the property along Vale View Road in Rocky View County from April 6 to 12.

Investigators believed all the items they were searching for would be located in outbuildings, vehicles and the property grounds, excluding the primary residence. 

Calgary police executed a search warrant at a rural property along Vale View Road in Rocky View County from April 6 to 12, 2023. The primary vehicle that police believe some of the items would be in was a black 1998 GMC Sierra with Alberta License Plate CHM 2985. 

Police said they collected 1,000 pieces of evidence from the property, though it’s unknown what items from the search warrant they were able to recover.

'KNOT IN YOUR STOMACH'

Mantha had been renting a quonset on the property, owned by Paul Lock and his wife Muriel Schaack-Lock, for nearly two years.

Schaack-Lock was shocked to learn of the crimes Mantha is now accused of. 

"There's also that knot in your stomach, that deep feeling in your belly button, that you're not safe," she said. 

"When I think too much about it, I start freaking out."

Inside the quonset is a fifth-wheel trailer where it appears Mantha may have been living.

The trailer in the quonset Richard Robert Mantha rented in Rocky View County.

The forensic crime scene unit expected to find biohazardous materials inside that vehicle, including blood, semen and saliva.

The Locks say he had a wood stove oven inside the trailer, and had cut a hole in the roof to allow the smoke to flow outward. 

They also say the hut has bullet holes in the walls. 

CLEANUP BEGINS

The couple describe Mantha as a hoarder. 

"This is our haven, (or) it was," Schaack-Lock said. 

"We got married in the front yard last year, and every time I was going out, it was just good memories. We're bonded to this place, and now it's like a garbage dump."

A dump the couple is now left with cleaning up. 

Piles or garbage, building materials, mattresses, furniture, bikes, tires, kids toys and other tools are scattered across the property.

Muriel Schaack-Lock stands amongst the mess left behind after the execution of a search warrant at her property in Rocky View County.

The couple owns an automotive store in Calgary and work full-time. Their spare time is now filled with organizing the mess left behind.

They have been throwing out garbage, but keeping Mantha’s assets and valuables and returning them to the quonset. 

"We want a refund for what we had to put in to clean this mess," said Schaack-Lock. 

LOOKING FOR A LAWYER

The couple is also trying to find a lawyer, as the costs cleaning up after the police search are causing a financial burden on the pair.

"We want to be fair. We're not after getting something that's not ours. We just want help or someone to guide us," Schaack-Lock said.  

Volunteers and friends have donated time and resources such as bobcats and industrial garbage bins to help them with cleanup. 

Calgary police executed a search warrant at a rural property along Vale View Road in Rocky View County from April 6 to 12, 2023.

Schaack-Lock says the entire ordeal has made the couple consider selling their home and moving on. 

"The time will come very soon, because we want to finish this chapter in our life as soon as possible, where we will seriously need some help," she said. 

Schaack-Lock says they have been recovering every day since police left the property. 

They say there is damage incurred to the Quonset itself, including security cameras ripped from the building. 

SEEK FINANCIAL DAMAGES

Doug King, a justice studies professor at Mount Royal University, says the couple can seek financial damages from the police for any potential damage caused during the search warrant and the accused, if they choose to.

"If there are issues related to how the accused might have used the property, and they're having to clean up that kind of stuff, it would be like any landlord-tenant relationship," King said.

"If you lease something and you leave the property in disrepair, there may have been a security deposit that was put down and so they wouldn't get that security back, but if it was beyond that, then the landlord can also then go into civil damages and sue the individual."

Inside the trailer in the quonset Richard Robert Mantha rented in Rocky View County.

King believes the couple should secure a lawyer.

"I would, if I was in their shoes," he said. 

"I would want at least someone that I knew I could call who knew the law, just simply because you don't want to do something that could put yourself in danger or your property in danger, or jeopardize the case."

Mantha remains in custody. He appeared briefly in court on Thursday and set a bail hearing for May 12.

Richard Robert Mantha is shown in an undated photo obtained by CTV News.

King suggested bail is highly unlikely for Mantha.

"So the Crown has to argue why someone would be kept without bail," he said. "And that would be a fairly easy standard to reach in this case, because of the nature of the accusations."