Violent Okanagan offender Curtis Sagmoen has died

A notorious offender with a history of violence against sex workers in the Okanagan has died, according to the grandmother of a teenager whose remains were found on the man’s farm.

Curtis Sagmoen was convicted of multiple offences, and police have in the past issued repeated warnings to sex workers to stay away from him.

In 2017, the remains of 18-year-old Traci Genereaux were found on a farm associated with Sagmoen. Now, her grandmother, Darcy Martin, says her first reaction on hearing he has died was elation.

“That was the best news I could hear from a horrible, horrible man,” she said.

“He can no longer hurt anybody else.”

Emotions are mixed, however, and Martin is left wondering if justice has been fully served.

“He’s never been held accountable for anything that he has done, with all of the crimes that he has committed, it’s just been a slap on the wrist,” she says.

She says the RCMP called her Friday morning to tell her about Sagmoen’s death, but she doesn’t know when or how he died.

Martin says she is hoping his victims and their families may get more answers.

“Maybe there were people out there that were in fear of him and didn’t want to say anything,” she said.

“So maybe now some more people might come forward. We might get some more closure.”

1130 NewsRadio has asked police for more information.

Genereaux’s cause of death has never been publicly released, and Sagmoen was never charged in her death.