Bodies were expected to be found.

But in the end, despite an exhaustive, days-long search of a rural property east of Calgary leased by convicted sex offender Richard Robert Mantha, there were no corpses to uncover, no severed heads, no headless bodies.

Martin: Judge considers future of man who preyed on vulnerable women Back to video

Calgary police, with the assistance of the RCMP, conducted the search of Mantha’s rental property, including a Quonset hut packed with mostly junk.

And the search included the use of cadaver dogs, suggesting police expected bodies might be uncovered during the Easter long weekend raid on Mantha’s property.

In her lengthy written decision convicting Mantha on six of the 20 charges he originally faced in connection with allegations he sexually assaulted and drugged vulnerable women, mostly on the rural property, Justice Judith Shriar likely revealed why officers thought they might have a serial killer on their hands.

And if that erroneous fact was what triggered the search in the........

© Calgary Herald