Police continue to investigate the murders of two-year-old Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette and her father Terry Blanchette and are searching several areas in and around the town of Blairmore for evidence.
RCMP investigators have set up a forensic trailer at an acreage in the hills north of Blairmore and have erected a tent over an area where it is believed the little girl's remains were found.
CTV News talked to a relative of the accused who confirmed that the property is owned by a family member.
Police are also conducting a grid search along the train tracks between Blairmore and Coleman and have combed through the home where Terry Blanchette's body was found.
The investigation began on Monday when RCMP issued an AMBER Alert for the disappearance of Hailey, in three provinces and Montana, after a family member visited the girl's Blairmore home and found her 27-year-old father dead and the little girl missing.
On Tuesday night, police confirmed that Hailey’s body was found in a rural area near the community.
Derek James Saretzky, 22, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of indignity to a human body in connection with the deaths.
News of the deaths has rocked the small mountain community and Hailey's mother, Cheyenne Dunbar, 20, is struggling to understand what happened.
"I don't know why anybody would do that to her. I don't know why," said Dunbar. "I'm receiving all the support I can get right now, as much as possible. There's really nothing anybody can do or say that will make me feel any better."
Dunbar told the media on Tuesday that she knows Saretzky, who is an old friend of hers, but says they hadn’t spoken in years.
Saretzky has no previous criminal convictions but he has had run ins with the law before.
Hailey’s grandfather, Kevin Dunbar, says he didn’t know the suspect but he wants the truth about Saretzky’s relationship with his daughter to be known.
“There is no connection sexually or otherwise between her and Derek,” he said.
He says he last saw Hailey three weeks ago in Edmonton.
“We took her and Cheyenne out for the day, went swimming, we did everything that a family would like to do and we were hoping to do that again but I guess that’s not going to happen now,” said Dunbar. “She was awesome, she was very beautiful, very fun to be with.”
Court documents show he faced charges of possession of marijuana and stolen property in 2012 and 2014 but those charges were dropped. He is also facing two charges of break and enter from an incident in August.
Police say that Saretzky and Terry Blanchette were acquaintances but they are still trying to determine a motive for the killings.
Saretzky will remain in custody and will appear in court on September 23, 2015, in Lethbridge.
