Murder charges laid in 2022 double homicide of Coquitlam couple

Handout photo of (L) 24-year-old Kiesha Garie and (R) 30-year old Umair Kasim of Coquitlam, found deceased in a vehicle in the 900-block of Alpha Avenue, Burnaby on Oct. 17, 2022. Handout photo from IHIT. jpg

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Almost four years after two bodies were discovered in a car on a quiet street in Burnaby, charges have been laid against one man.

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Mohammed Arif Ansari, 27, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of indignity to human remains in the 2022 double homicide of Coquitlam couple Kiesha Garie, 31, and her fiancée, Umair Kasim, 30. 

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The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spent four years piecing together the circumstances and timeline surrounding the homicides . With few publicly released leads, Garie’s family started a Facebook group to raise awareness of the lack of progress in the case, which became the subject of a true crime podcast.

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Garie and Kasim had been reported missing to the Coquitlam RCMP a few days before a passerby spotted their bodies inside a parked car near Alpha Secondary School around 1:45 p.m.

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Christine Angelis, Garie’s mother, held a protest in front of RCMP headquarters in Surrey in February, saying she’d been “kept in the dark.”

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“This was a complex investigation that demanded years of dedicated work by investigators who were committed to finding answers,” said IHIT Sgt. Freda Fong. “Through the persistent pursuit of multiple investigative avenues and the meticulous examination of evidence, this case has reached a significant milestone with the approval of charges.”

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Wong said the case dragged on for more than three years delay is primarily due to the “high threshold set by the Crown counsel’s (guideline) that demands substantial likelihood of conviction before proceeding with a case.”

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Police said no further information will be released.

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