Maria Canton
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Nov 01/99) - Last week police were called to two separate incidents of bodies being found, one in a private residence and one at the medical boarding house.

Sgt. Mike O'Malley says neither incident resembles the death of Shoatee Joannie, who died from "blunt force trauma" in late September.

"I think we're treating both of these incidents as sudden deaths," he said.

"Neither of them is like the Joannie case."

The body of Edwin Daly, 66, was found inside a house on Oct. 25 and has been flown to Toronto for an autopsy to determine the preliminary cause of death.

O'Malley says they are waiting for toxicology reports from the autopsy to confirm or clear up suspicions about the death.

The following day police received a call notifying them of the body of Audlaloo Laisa, 43, of Cape Dorset, at the medical boarding house.

Staff say Laisa was receiving medical treatments at the hospital and the coroner will determine if an autopsy should be conducted.

Meanwhile, work in Iqaluit's second murder investigation continues to be a priority for the RCMP.

"The interview process has slowed down and we're in the process of re-examining certain things to clarify information," said O'Malley.

He added that they are waiting for DNA results on blood-stained items that were sent to a southern laboratory in the days following the September murder.