The deaths of Sherry Shelley (left) and Mahadi Redwan (right), have initiated two substantial police investigations. (submitted photos)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

homicide

Top Stories of 2025: Suspicious deaths commanding considerable Nanaimo RCMP resources

Dec 18, 2025 | 3:07 PM

NANAIMO — A pair of suspicious deaths just days apart in the city’s north end have seen extensive police resources devoted.

Local Mounties discovered the body of 65-year-old Sherry Shelley in the early morning hours of Nov. 14 inside a burned car along College Dr., near Trinity Dr., around six hours after she was last in communication with friends while at the Walmart at Woodgrove Centre.

While police looked to confirm the identity of the remains, Mounties declared Shelley missing later the same day, noting many of her personal effects including clothing were found along a Lantzville-area logging road.

“Her disappearance is highly suspicious, and as a result, the investigation is being conducted by the Nanaimo RCMP Serious Crimes Unit,” Reserve Cst. Gary O’Brien said at the time of her disappearance, as Mounties believed she was still in the city’s north end.

It wasn’t until early December when confirmation of Shelley’s remains were made and her death officially classified as homicide.

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Despite extensive canvassing in the College Dr. area, police were still looking to figure out how Shelley and her white Volkswagen Tiguan traveled from Walmart to College Dr.

Calls to the public for help with dash cam or home security footage were made along a trio of routes including the Nanaimo Parkway, Jingle Pot Rd. or Harwood Rd.

RCMP Cst. Sherri Wade told NanaimoNewsNOW in early December, considerable resources were put onto the investigation as soon as the nature of the incident was known.

“When something is deemed a possible homicide, it is front-loaded. After Ms. Shelley was discovered, the Serious Crimes Unit was working about 20 hours a day, and we bring in resources from the detachment, so we had a lot of members from other units doing canvassing for video surveillance, starting to do warrants, so it’s a very large front-loaded process.”

Shelley’s disappearance came in the immediate aftermath of the discovery of a body along the Old Island Hwy.

Twenty-three-year-old Mahadi Redwan was located in brush along the side of the road on Nov. 12, but it’s believed he had been there for upwards of 10 days.

Investigators believe Redwan’s death occurred around 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 2, somewhere between the Thrifty Foods at Longwood Station and a wooded area off Metral Dr., near Rutherford/Mostar Rd.

Redwan was seen on security footage leaving the grocery store around 15 minutes before his presumed time of death.

While police have not officially classified Redwan’s death a homicide, O’Brien said in mid-November “this matter is considered a criminal investigation.”

Both police and friends of Redwan said he had been attempting to secure a ride from Nanaimo to Courtenay on the day of his disappearance.

He had come to Canada around six months prior from his native Bangladesh and was working two jobs in a bid to bring his family, including his pregnant wife, to Canada.

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