Surrey's rural Colebrook Road has seen an extraordinary amount of death in recent years.

The latest tragedy revealed itself there just after noon Sunday, when a motorist found the charred body of 29-year-old Delta resident Amrit Pal Saran, at the side of the road.

"We're still looking into the motive," Cpl. Adam MacIntosh, a spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said of Surrey's eighth murder this year. "The reasons for his death remain a mystery."

MacIntosh said Saran, whose body was found in the 12100-block of Colebrook Rd., was "known to police," but to their knowledge wasn't associated to any gang.

His body was found a mere two blocks way from where the body of Jaskaran Singh Sandhu, 26, was found on Jan. 28th.

Sandhu's body was discovered in the grass beside Colebrook Road, in the 12300-block, after police received a 911 call.

Sandhu had survived an attempt on his life in September 2011, at a Mr. Lube on Barnett Highway in Coquitlam.

MacIntosh said investigators believe the deaths of Saran and Sandhu are unrelated. "We're not aware of any connection between the two," he said Monday.

Police are asking people with information on either case to call the IHIT tip line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or contact investigators by email at ihittipline@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Colebrook Road runs from Mud Bay along the bottom of Panorama Ridge eastward into Cloverdale, where it ends in sprawling fields, only to resume once again near the Surrey-Langley border. It's a dark road, and one of the few places in these parts from where you can still see a star-pocked sky.

If the road could share its secrets, it would bear witness to crashes involving trains, cars and bicycles, as well as murders, suicides, sexual assaults and stabbings.

* In March 2009 the body of Marc Bontkes, 33, was found beside a van parked in Hi-Knoll Park, in the 19500-block of Colebrook Rd. He'd been shot.

* In January 2007, the body of Fleetwood teenager Amrita Jyoti Sidhu was found on the road, just east of 152nd Street. Police did not suspect foul play.

* In March 2002, a 22-year-old Vancouver woman was drugged and driven from Vancouver to the 13700-block of Colebrook Rd., where she was violently sexually assaulted at gunpoint.

* In December 2001, a commuter discovered the body of a woman at the side of Colebrook Road, between Highways 10 and 99, beside a farmer's field. She was not carrying any identification.

* In December 2000 a 38-year-old Surrey woman was stabbed and dumped at the side of the road, at Station Road and Colebrook Road, after being picked up by a man while waiting for a bus in Guildford. She nearly died.

* In September 1992, the body of 34-year-old Sital Singh Jhattu was found in a ditch in the 15400-block of Colebrook Road. The machine operator had been shot. A day after he was reported missing, Jhattu's car was found abandoned at the Dell shopping mall in Whalley, with the keys still in the ignition.

* In October 1991, Erich Eugene Smith, 24, shot his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend Thomas Garfield Cook, 35, dead in the 14000-block of Colebrook Rd., and then turned the shotgun on himself.

* In June 1989 Francis Doldolea, 14, of Delta died after being hit by a car while he was bicycling in the 13400-block of Colebrook Rd.

tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com