Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of death of David William Brodrick, the man who was found unresponsive in a North Fraser Pretrial Centre jail cell on the weekend.
Integrated Homicide Investigation Team Cpl. Adam MacIntosh said an autopsy was conducted on Tuesday and the results are not expected to be released anytime soon.
He would not say whether foul play was suspected.
"It is still unexplained," he said. "When you have an unexplained death... we want to treat it as something serious so nothing is missed."
Brodrick was found in medical distress in his cell Sunday night when paramedics attempted to revive the 44-year-old Vancouver man.
BC Corrections spokesperson Marnie Mayhew said in a press release that staff at the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, which oversees the province's jail system, would also be conducting an internal investigation.
"This death is a tragedy and our heartfelt condolences go out to this inmate's family and friends," she said in a statement. "BC Corrections takes the death of an inmate in custody very seriously and we will be conducting a critical incident review to examine the circumstances of this death."
Brodrick was featured in a CBC Fifth Estate episode in 2009 called Staying Alive, which profiled Insite, Vancouver's supervised safe injection site. Brodrick was a regular at the site and was well-known figure in the Downtown Eastside.
Investigators would not say what led to Brodrick's initial arrest, however Darwin Fisher, an Insite employee, told the CBC he appeared to be trying to turn his life around.
"He talked about getting work [and housing]," he said. "This is stuff that I've never heard from Dave before... the idea that Dave says 'Hey, could you help me find a job?' was really great to hear."
"To lose this person that I've been in contact with for years and seen struggle for years, and finally see them in a good place. And now he's dead."
