The discovery of human remains on a rural British Columbia property, in an area where several women have gone missing, has prompted an exhaustive police investigation that continued on Tuesday.

RCMP officers and forensics teams are using excavators to search a farm on Salmon River Road, in the North Okanagan area, after the remains were discovered during the execution of a search warrant on Saturday.

Police say it’s unclear whether the remains belong to one person or multiple people. Investigators have not made any links between the discovery and the missing women, but members of neighbouring communities say they are on edge and want answers.

Over the past 18 months, at least five women have gone missing in the area. The missing women have been identified as Caitlin Potts, 27, Ashley Simpson, 27, Deanna Wertz, 46, Traci Genereaux, 18, and Nicole Bell, 31.

Simpson was last seen in April. She told her family that she planned to hitchhike to Ontario before she vanished. Her father John has been tirelessly searching for his adventurous daughter.

“It just breaks all of us here as family that she went missing for unknown reasons,” he told CTV News. “Every time something like this comes up, it’s a heartache.”

Police have told the Simpson family that this investigation is likely unrelated to Ashley’s disappearance. Still, John worries because the farm they are searching is so close to where she lived with her boyfriend.

“If it’s her we can bring her home and get closure,” John said. “If it’s not her, then we go through this whole routine again when something else happens, and we go through the emotional roller coaster.”

The Wertz family is also nervously following the investigation. Deanna was Ashley Simpson’s neighbour. She went for a walk in July 2016 and never returned.

In August, a woman believed to be an escort said a man threatened her at gunpoint in the Salmon River Road area. The alleged attack prompted police to issue a warning to sex workers in the area.

Curtis Wayne Sagmoen, a 36-year-old Salmon River Road resident, was charged in connection with that incident. Sagmoen, who is now in police custody, sometimes lived at the farm where the human remains were found.

The Mounties have not made any connections between the gruesome discovery and the alleged attack that led to charges against Sagmoen

#RCMP still on the farm near #SalmonArm where human remains found.Not yet known if remains belong to one or multiple individuals. #ctvnews pic.twitter.com/zDToWrTmYw — Melanie Nagy (@MelanieNagyCTV) October 24, 2017

With reports from CTV’s B.C. Bureau Chief Melanie Nagy and CTV Vancouver