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“I think people step up when they need to step up,” he said.

Pellerin recalled that on July 5 he called a former major crimes investigator for extra help. The officer was on his way to the lake, but turned around to look into a murder.

The fact that the major crimes unit is calling in extra help speaks to the volume of work it has been dealing with this summer. That includes not just the fresh homicides, but cases that are still before courts and other suspicious deaths, Pellerin said.

Photo by Gord Waldner

Mitch Yuzdepski knows better than most what it’s like to haul himself out of bed in the middle of the night and spend the next two or three straight days racing against the clock to gather evidence and track down witnesses.

Although his current post as deputy chief entails long days behind a desk, the 32-year Saskatoon police veteran vividly remembers the five years he spent putting in even longer hours as an investigator in the major crimes unit.

“When you get that first call to come in for a new homicide, you know you’re going to work tirelessly for 48 to 72 hours … You just kind of focus, knowing you’re going to start to work those long hours in order to bring closure to the file,” he said.

“You have to be willing to get up and go on a moment’s notice, and work those long hours … The people who choose to do that, I think they choose to do that for all the right reasons — they’re very dedicated to finding the truth, very driven to solve these cases,” he added.

Major crimes investigators tend to stay out of the spotlight; their names rarely appear publicly outside court cases and infrequent interviews. Investigating murders, however, is among the most high-profile activity any police force undertakes.