VANCOUVER -- A man wanted in the weekend slaying of a young Vancouver mother was found dead Sunday in an apparent suicide.

Cong “Danny” Nguyen, 31, had been sought in the slaying Saturday of Thi Tam Nguyen, 27, in the basement suite of a house on East 41st Avenue near Rupert Street. Police said the victim was Cong Nguyen’s ex-wife.

Vancouver Police Const. Brian Montague said a young boy out walking with his mother on Sunday saw the man’s body in a wooded area near train tracks about 150 metres from the banks of the Fraser River.

“Officers were called to a trail near Gladstone Park off of East Kent Avenue where the body of a man was found hanging in a tree,” said Montague. “The body had been discovered by a 13-year-old walking along the trail.”

Sunday afternoon yellow police tape cordoned off an area near Gladstone Park as investigators and the coroner probed the area for clues.

A friend of the couple said the two had a stormy relationship.

In 2011, Cong Nguyen was charged with domestic assault.

“I think they had some problems with their own families,” said the friend, who didn’t want his name used.

“They couldn’t get along. They had separated — I don’t know whether they were divorced. It turned out very bad.”

The couple had a four-year-old son who was in the home at the time of the slaying on Saturday and was taken into care.

It was Vancouver’s sixth homicide of the year.

“It’s really sad,” said Barbara Sigerson, who’s lived adjacent to Gladstone Park for 18 years. “Nobody’s got any hope left.

“What do you tell the four-year-old?

“It’s just so sad.”