The body of a missing convicted murderer was dragged out of a car by a bear that ate part of it and buried the rest, authorities in Canada said Saturday, according to reports.
Rory Nelson Wagner, 53, was out on parole from a murder sentence when he vanished from Kamloops, British Columbia, on May 23, CTV reported.
The black bear was later euthanized by conservation officers, CTV said late Saturday.
The Vancouver Sun said Wagner and two others were charged with killing a man who they believed had sexually assaulted their family member.
Wagner eventually pleaded guilty to murder and was convicted in 1996, according to BCLocalNews.com. Parole documents show the murder victim was charged with the sexual assault but found not guilty shortly before the killing.
Hunters came across the remains after finding an abandoned Volkswagen Jetta on a logging road. The bear pulled Wagner’s corpse from the vehicle through an open window and buried him under a pile of dirt and vegetation.
When the hunters made the grisly find, the bear was still in the area, protecting the food stash, BCLocalNews reported.
Conservation officer Darcy MacPhee told CTV: “The bite mark measurements that we had from the body matched perfectly with the teeth on that [euthanized] bear, so we were confident that we had the animal that had been feeding on this person.”
There were conflicting reports about whether Wagner had committed suicide in the car, ahead of autopsy and toxicology tests to determine the likely cause of death.
"It's not going to be particularly difficult. In any case, it does take several weeks for toxicology results to come back. It's fairly standard," coroner Mark Coleman told the Vancouver Sun.
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Secret donors, foreign firms bankroll UK’s Diamond Jubilee celebration
- Anger as Egypt's ex-ruler Mubarak gets life in prison, not death
- In Cairo, cheers and fears over Mubarak sentencing
- NATO rescues doctors kidnapped by Taliban in 'extraordinarily brave' operation
- British monarchy's critics face uphill battle during jubilee
- Mourning the loss of more lives in Syria
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world


Fa Tass...LOL!
Canadian black bear on bath salt's eat's half a man and buries the other half after the black bear came down and realised what he'd done. (I'm sorry, to soon for bath salt's and dinner snacking comment's, oh how can I save face now!)
Such a tidy diner...
"When the hunters made the grisly find, the bear was still in the area"
Make up your mind, what kind of bear was it? Black or grizzly?
(yeah, I know)
Yeah right I know I was going to put the black bear buried the other half after he came down and realised what a grizzly thing he'd done. But to much stupid punn in one stupid comment just seem's like ummm overkill.
Well moshuluu, it is Obama's fault. He should have known this was going to happen and let the Canadian Government know. Obama could have prevented this by giving into the Republicans demands and give more breaks to the job creators...
Actually it is pretty amazing. Trying to go from a bear eating human flesh to Obama is just sad. Look on the bright side. With people like this voting against Obama, we will get another four years of Obama. I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. But when I see people being so childish, with a few being complete idiots, it pushes me away from that side. (When people AND Politicians act that way.)
As far as the bear goes. Yeah, like others said. It has to be put down. Once any animal gets a taste for human flesh then they will be coming back for more.
I wonder what happened to this man though. Did he commit suicide or did even more people think they could take the law into their own hands and they killed him. What is it with people. This guy saw himself as judge and jury. And maybe another saw themselves as judge and jury.
I am so glad thing like this don't ever happen in the US... Nope. Not at all. It could never happen. We are normal and sane down here................
Bears are Omnivrous!! Sometimes they like Salad,....Sometimes they like Steak!
I've seen video of a Bear in Yosemite chasing down a Deer! As we say in the South, " That Dog can Hunt!! ".
Why do stupid people expect WILD animals to think like humans?This Bear was just trying to survive and since its natural food supply is steadily being eradicated by Logging companies what the hell is it supposed to do?Besides ,the guy was already dead.And shouldn't the CONSERVATION officers try to CONSERVE the animals in THEIR native habitat?Why not euthanize the greedy gut execs of the logging company instead?
Poor Boo Boo.He was never the same after Yogi ran off with that female grizz.I wonder if the meal was better than those picnic baskets they used to grab?
this guy must be high on drug when the bear found him unconscious inside his car!
the bear is eating him alive!
Bet he didn't she that coming being that Canada doesn't have the death penalty. He put a bad taste in the Bear's mouth it had to bury the remaining corpse so not other animals would eat him and get sick. I know many animals bury their food and return later for it and that's must be what the bear done and now they have to track the bear and kill it because of tasting human blood. It might not be the Bear's first human kill. They might want to use another killer for bait.
Sorry the bear had to die. The man was already dead in the car. The officers made a BooBoo.
Have your father raped and then see how you feel about this story. I find it sad for everyone except the rapist.
It is poetic justice that the convicted murderer was eaten by a bear.
I bet that dude was a salty redneck...
God in his infinite wisdom....
Were is the "Just desert" know Pun Entended.
Every day, you just get up and wonder 'what's going to happen today?'
If it's not the water pump going out on the car, some damn bear eats you.
It's always something.
The black bear was later euthanized
What a shame. The only thing the bear did wrong was eat garbage.
Is this proof that a bear sh*t in the woods.
If you watch the Canadian footage, it made sense that the bear was put down. The area where the car was located and the bear was, is a camp site. Just last year, a 73 year old woman had been killed and partially eaten by a bear. Also, the ex-con's vehicle wasn't isolated, it was in an area with other vehicles. I'd rather the officers err on the side of caution. Who knows if there were children at that campsite?
I have no issue with the bear being put down, like any wild animal predator, they will see humans as a source of food and need too be dealt with, unlike our wild human predator, that we put into human zoos so we can observe them compete...
PETA people eaten by tasting animals.
Give that bear a medal!
A fitting end to an otherwise stellar career...
Cosmic justice tried and true.
So the bear probably saved more lives or the very least saved innocent women from sexual assault and they kill him - WTF!!!!!!
According to the article, the BEAR never killed anyone. The guy was already dead and the bear pulled his CORPSE out of the car's open window for an easy dinner.
For those of you saying the man who died deserved death for his crimes and for those of you who say he never should have been convicted because be killed someone who may have sexually assaulted a family member: In this case, it seems that justice was meted out fairly by our courts. The man served time in prison for taking matters into his own hand, but he was not given a life sentence because of the circumstances of the case.
I am thankful that. though it is far from perfect, that in our country we do try to have a fair trial system and not mob justice. (Remember the scenes from the old westerns, where there is a lynch mob outside of the sheriff's office, demaning to hang an innocent man?)
The man on parole was like one of those lynch mobs trying to take matters into his own hands. It is against our laws, and very rightly so.