RCMP under investigation after Indigenous woman's body found within a kilometre of where she went missing
Body found almost a month after disappearance; IIO to determine if RCMP action, inaction contributed to death
British Columbia's police oversight agency is determining whether police action or inaction contributed to the death of a woman from the Saik'uz First Nation, after it said her body was found on Nov. 5 within a kilometre of where she was last seen alive almost a month earlier.
The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) is not naming the woman but details of her disappearance and death match those of Chelsey Quaw (Heron), 29, who was reported missing after leaving the home in Saik'uz where she was staying early on Oct. 11.
An aunt told CBC News that Quaw had recently moved to the community, around 85 kilometres west of Prince George, B.C., to stay with her father and two siblings.
At the time of Quaw's disappearance, family and local leadership called for more attention and resources to be directed to the case, saying they feared it was being ignored by police, the public and media because she was Indigenous.
Police say they launched a full-scale investigation into the disappearance but nothing was found until nearly a month later. On Nov. 6, RCMP announced Quaw's body had been found in a wooded area of the community, which has an on-reserve population of about 400 people.
A
missing poster for Chelsey Quaw in Prince George, B.C. Quaw was found
dead on Nov. 5, within a kilometre of where she was reported missing on
the Saik'uz First Nation, according to the Independent Investigations
Office. (Andrew Kurjata/CBC News)
RCMP said parallel investigations into the cause of death would be conducted by both police and the B.C. Coroners Service.
The IIO is now investigating police's involvement in the case, though it is not naming Quaw.
The agency is called in anytime there are concerns police may have played a role in serious harm or death, either through direct action or failure to reasonably act in a way that could have prevented harm.
The IIO says it was notified of concerns around the case on Nov. 26 and indicated they came from a member of the public.
In a release, the agency says it was notified of "concerns regarding the police response to a request for a wellness check for a woman on the Saik'uz First Nation."
It says Vanderhoof RCMP confirmed it was called to conduct a wellness check on Oct. 11 but officers were unable to locate the affected person.
"On Nov. 5, the woman that was subject of the wellness check was found deceased within one kilometre of that same residence," the IIO said.
Family, leaders' concerns about investigation
Family and local leaders had expressed concern about how Quaw's disappearance was being treated by police at several points during the investigation.
In an interview with CBC News on Nov. 3, her mother, Pam Heron, said she was worried her daughter had been stereotyped as a troubled Indigenous girl and didn't feel the RCMP treated her disappearance with enough urgency when she was first reported missing.
At a public meeting held by the Saik'uz First Nation on Nov. 3, leaders from Saik'uz and the Highway of Tears Governing Body called on RCMP to bring in more outside resources to support local search efforts.
The Highway of Tears Governing Body was formed in 2006 in response to a series of cases of women and girls, many Indigenous, who had either gone missing or been killed along Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert. In total, more than 40 women and girls are associated with disappearances along the 700-kilometre stretch of highway.
Saik'uz First Nation Chief Priscilla Mueller speaks at a community gathering on Nov. 3. (Submitted by Carrier Sekani Family Services)
Mary Teegee, one of the organization's leaders, said it seems little has changed in the decades since and was critical of RCMP efforts after Quaw was found dead.
"Why were there not RCMP helicopters, why weren't there RCMP dogs, why wasn't there more RCMP boots on the ground?" she asked in an interview with CBC News.
"I don't think that Pam [Heron] should have had to prove that Chelsey was not a drug addict ... Imagine if this was a young white girl out of West Vancouver .. Would the mother have to be [calling for] more RCMP involvement, for more of an investigation?"
WATCH | Teegee speaks about police efforts to find Quaw:
Police said they had done all they could to find Quaw.
In an email sent Nov. 8, RCMP North District spokesperson Cpl. Madonna Saunderson said RCMP air services, police dogs and search and rescue crews were all immediately deployed the day of Quaw's disappearance.
"I am confident that all investigative avenues were explored prior to her discovery and that every effort was made to locate her safe," she wrote.
B.C.'s senior RCMP media relations officer Staff Sgt. Kris Clark told CBC News in an email on Nov. 3 that, "while Indigenous people have historically been over-represented amongst missing persons, I can also tell you that, regardless of their race or gender, the safety and wellbeing of any missing person is the primary concern driving investigative tasks and decisions."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
987 4th Avenue
Prince GeorgeBCV2L 3H7
We are Indigenous girls, women and LGBTQQIA2S+ people, advocating to prevent violence along Highway 16.
The Highway of Tears is a 725-kilometre corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of many missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Who we are
The Highway of Tears Governing Body was formed as a result of one of the Highway of Tears Symposium Report Recommendations and it provides direction and support to our work.
We would like to acknowledge the families and friends of the victims of the Highway of Tears, as well as all the other families across Canada that are missing their loved ones. It is their perseverance that brings us together and why we continue to identify violence against women, specifically Indigenous women, as an issue that affects us all.
Highway of Tears Governing Body
In 2006 families of missing and murdered Indigenous women from along the Highway of Tears together with Carrier Sekani Family Services and several other organizations, hosted a symposium to raise public awareness and create a call for action. More than 500 people were in attendance including service providers, First Nations community members and victims’ family members.
Thirty-three recommendations came out of this important meeting covering four key areas: Victim Prevention, Emergency Readiness, Victim Family Support and Community Development. Each of these recommendations come first from the understanding that the communities along the highway share a situation of colonization resulting in experiences of poverty, violence, cultural genocide, residential school impacts, addictions and displacement from land.
The Highway of Tears Governing Body was formed as a result of one of the recommendations that came from the Highway of Tears Symposium Recommendations Report and it provides direction and support to implement all of the report recommendations.
The Governing Body has comprised of some of the victims’ family members, RCMP members, a representative from the Prince George Native Friendship Centre, a representative from the Ministry of Justice, the Highway of Tears Coordinator from CSFS as well as managers and directors from CSFS. To date, we have passionately advocated the Government to fulfill their 2006 commitment to support the implementation of the thirty-three recommendations and more recently also the Calls for Justice that came from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Lonnie Landrud and the murder of Deena Braem
This one kind of baffles me. Deena Lyn Braem was last seen alive hitchhiking to her home in Bouchie Lake from Quesnel on September 25, 1999. Her body was recovered on December 10, 1999 north west of Quesnel near Pinnacles Provincial Park. In 2009 the Vancouver sun reported that 10 years later Deena's death is still a mystery.
Deena was murdered on the highway of Tears. The Highway of Tears dates back to 1998 when the name was used at a vigil in Terrace to pay tribute to five women who at that time had disappeared along the 720-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 connecting Prince George to Prince Rupert.The Prince George Citizen reported that the murders along the highway of tears date back to 1969 and continued in the /70's so it started before and continued after Robert Pickton. The Highway of Tears web site claims the number of murders are up to 40.
The Lonnie Landrud story is bizarre yet he seems so coherent. He claims he witnessed the murder of Deena Braem and claims she was murdered by a police officer. We've talked about means and motive in the past. I see no motive in a cop killing this young girl. We have heard of cops stealing drugs from police lock ups. We heard that sex trade workers claims police officers extrted them into perofming sexua favoyr claiming that if the didn't have sex with the police officer they would arrest them for prostitution. These things are believable but murder?
A New York-based Human Rights Watch released a report claiming that police abuse of aboriginal women in BC included threats, torture and sexual assault. The report also contains troubling and graphic allegations of physical and sexual abuse, including from a woman, identified as homeless, who describes how police took her outside of town and raped her. Rhoad said the woman told her the officers then, "threatened that if I told anybody they would take me out to the mountains and kill me and make it look like an accident."
Rape is believable but murder seems extreme. We know Jim Brown is a freak and the Dianne Rock story raises huge concerns. Obviously not all cops are bad. Yet when we see idiots like bill fordy getting promoted it is clear that there is corruption in the administration of the RCMP. How far that rabbit hole goes is something I simply cannot answer.
17 comments:
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Pretty compelling. Why would no one investigate this? Oh that's right, we don't really have anyone who investigates the police...except other police. And that's only in higher profile cases, usually it's them investigating themselves. Not that this on isn't high profile.
ReplyListen, the RCMP was reluctant to do anything above the Picton problem until it back impossible not to. For all the things the RCMP has swept under the rug to "Maintain Their Right", imagine how happy they would be to investigate a serial murder crew in uniform.....
In BC, the internal RCMP investigations are not handled internally. It's the Independent Investigative Office IIO.
For sure. I think they might know a little more about the mid twenties males that have gone missing without a trace in the PG area over the years. I think it's pretty safe to say the highway of tears is more than one person. How can multiple people get away with murder in the same area? Kind of like the BCR cops wife that is missing without a trace. Things that make you go hmmm...
ReplyBCR?
BC Rail police that used to police BCR site and railways in PG.
Interesting. Do you have a name?
Anita Thorne, she went missing without a trace about 2 years ago. I don't know what they (BCR cops) are called now, but he has been a BCR cop forever and is still a railroad cop.
How sad that this case has gone unsolved.
ReplyThe murders of women have been going on since the 1960s from Kamloops on up. It was not an area you wanted to even drive through at night, for fear your car might break down.
One of those killed outside of Kamloops was the daughter of an RCMP officer. Never solved to the best of my recollection.
Trailrunner and I don't agree on much, but this one, upp we agree.
At one time, an occupation of high spousal abuse were police officers. The stats must still be around from the 1970s and 1980s. In one northern, RCMP detachment, of 10 men, 8 admitted to hitting their wives, one said no, and one said not your business. So would murder of a woman they were not married to be that far a move? Not in my opinion. A police officer would be stupid to murder his wife because, well in a small town it might be noticed she was gone, but a woman not the wife, easy.
If it is alleged a police officer murdered the young woman, it would not surprise me if in fact that were true. There are no details as to how the young woman was murdered, but it doesn't take much sometimes to kill someone, hit them the wrong way, some one falls and hits their head......
What we do know is these murders will not be solved and the killings will continue. it is almost as if it were condoned by society.
Historically First Nations women had little to no value in our European descent culture. when they were rapped, battered, or murdered not many cared. Not much as changed until the change in federal government last year.
Many cases of murder on the Highway of Tears is because there is no reliable method of transportation along the way. Christy Clark and her B.C. LieberaLS DECIDed $250Kk per year for a bus just wasn't worth it.
There is always someone who knows something or has a pretty good idea, but they don't share it with authorities at the best of times. If the "authorities" might be involved, people will simply not talk. However, we can only hope more information comes to light during the Federal Investigation Canada will be having into the murdered and missing First Nations women. Perhaps cases may even be re-opened or investigate with new technology and fresh, unbiased eyes.
"There are no details as to how the young woman was murdered."
In the interview he states exactly how he saw the cop murder the girl.
I know of someone who had tried to leave a tip on the Nicole Hoare disappearance on hwy 16. It was not taken seriously because they wouldn't leave a name. Funny how that guy that we thought is in jail for murder and since the killings have slowed, with the exception of Cody legebokoff.
ReplyThe case of Cody Legebokoff is an e.g. of why some of the murders are hard to solve. who would have thought someone from a "normal" family would have killed 3 women. Had it not been for an officer stopping him because he came from a road not used often, he would have continued to be at large.
ReplyThe lack of "enthusiasm" from police when people try to leave a tip is not encouraging.
Legebokoff killed 4 women.
Police constables are human beings. All are capable of horrible atrocities. History proves this beginning with Cain and Abel.
Reply(On a slight aside, just because they are human, does not mean police should not be held to an higher standard than the rest of the body of a nation or state - in fact, because of their position, police punishment for infractions should be, at least, 3 times that of the normal sentencing solely because of their position of trust!)
When an area or event is advertised and promoted by the media, various individuals are "inspired" (tempted) to commit the same acts ("copycats").
While obviously wanting to report on such occurrences/acts/events, the media have their role of responsibility to play, as well.
Have you met with Lonnie Landrud or the RCMP and discussed this? I have.
ReplyIn fact I have been investigating the RCMP for years. (They picked the fight with me and I will settle it)
I made it a point to meet Landrud in person when I was out west in 2014. I believed every word he told me but he does not trust anyone particularly strangers for justifiable reasons. Neither do I. However in return I definitely do not trust the neo nazi wackos he hangs out with such as Arthur Topham and Frank Frost. So we are even. However he did send me a statement later in the mail and asked me to put it on the Internet. When I posted it the mindless RCMP paid me visit in the middle of the night me and I responded to their lawyers immediately.
http://davidraymondamos.blogspot.ca/2014/12/fwd-re-murdered-and-missing-women.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16UMaXcYKN8
http://thedavidamosrant.blogspot.ca/2014/02/re-very-ethical-lonnie-landrud-and-what.html
So much for the tough talking Neo Nazis in Quesnel eh?
http://www.radicalpress.com/?p=9892
The RCMP know what I have done about it my concerns thus far and there is more to follow. Check my lawsuit ongoing in Federal Court (T-1557-15) for over a year. If you wish to argue me on the public record intervene. Then if you wish to try to call me a liar, put it in writing and file it with your true name and signature. Otherwise all of this is just hot air in cyberspace to me.
Veritas Vincit
David Raymond Amos
902 800 0369
P.S. Your buddies in the RCMP know why I saved a digital copy of this webpage for my records EH Paul Collister?
Thank You Sir
ReplyGuaranteed the horse cops killed that poor girl, and you can bet your best pair of shoes that other RCMPigs have murdered other missing women along the Highway of Tears too.
ReplyI think you can take your clue from the first few paragraphs of H. Thompson's "Hey Rube". He talks about children being kidnapped off of the streets by organized gangs of perverts. These human trafficking organizations include police and even military assets.
Reply