Gastl gets three years for indignity to human remains in Vancouver case

Dustin Gastl, 43, was sentenced Aug. 10 to three years in prison after pleading guilty to indignity to human remains, Vancouver police say.

The charge arose from a 2023 homicide investigation in the Downtown Eastside. Vancouver Fire Rescue Services found human remains while responding to a suspicious outdoor fire near Powell Street and Raymur Avenue on Jan. 3, 2023. The remains were later identified as those of 34-year-old Jeff Jeanty.

Police had released a photo about six weeks after the discovery while seeking a woman. VPD spokesperson Const. Darren Wong told CTV News that the woman is not a suspect in the indignity-to-remains matter, but remains a suspect in the investigation into Jeanty’s death.

That investigation remains open, Wong said, and police are not in a position to recommend charges against her or anyone else. Gastl’s sentence will be served consecutively to an unrelated sentence he is already serving; police did not provide details of that conviction.