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No peace for dead girl's mom

She demands task force probe daughter's case

By: Gabrielle Giroday

9/02/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 60

Nicole Daniels

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Nicole Daniels

First, she was gossiping on the phone, likely on a chat line with strangers, her mother recalls.

Then her stepfather watched her climb into a truck and take off into the night.

Nicole Daniels, 16, froze to death near a business on Regent Avenue in April 2009. Her death was ruled an accident but her mother wants to know who gave her the alcohol that contributed to her death.

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Nicole Daniels, 16, froze to death near a business on Regent Avenue in April 2009. Her death was ruled an accident but her mother wants to know who gave her the alcohol that contributed to her death. (JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

Within 14 hours, the 16-year-old girl was discovered dead in a Transcona snowbank after freezing to death.

She was bruised and had large amounts of alcohol in her system from an unknown source.

Now, the mother of Nicole Daniels says her daughter's death last April should be included in a task force review looking into the unsolved cases of 84 slain and missing women.

However, Nicole's death won't push the task force's caseload to 85 as it's been labelled an accidental death.

On April 1, 2009, Nicole was found face-down in the snow behind an Enterprise car rental outlet on Regent Avenue. A condom was in her jacket pocket, according to an autopsy report.

She had bruises and cuts on her forehead, nose, wrist and finger. She also had a bruise on the left side of her head.

Police initially classified the death as suspicious but now say the case is closed.

"How the hell could she get so drunk?" asked Frances Daniels, Nicole's mother.

She is heartbroken because she has so few answers into how Nicole spent the final hours of her life.

Daniels said she wants to know who gave her underage daughter alcohol and how she ended up in a parking lot about 1.5 kilometres from where the family lives, like someone "kicked her out of the car after they used her."

Daniels said her daughter spent most of her time by herself listening to music in her room, but she sometimes went on a local chat line to make friends.

"She never went out," she said. "She didn't even go out with the girls to the mall and stuff like that. She was in her room."

Once before, she'd returned home drunk, with her pants unbuttoned, boots slipping off and jacket open.

Nicole had struggled with alcohol and drugs, and had previously attempted suicide, said the autopsy report obtained by the Free Press.

Police told the family officers questioned a man who spent part of the evening with Nicole but he was not criminally charged, Daniels said.

"I'm just wondering how she could get so damned juiced that she would fall, pass out, in behind a car place," Daniels said.

Nicole's 17th birthday would have been this Friday.

The autopsy report said Nicole's death was accidental, with hypothermia listed as the primary cause.

The report lists acute alcohol intoxication as a significant contributing factor.

Her mother believes there is someone who knows more about her daughter's death.

"These girls don't do that to themselves, put themselves in a ditch with their face down," she said.

She said police reviewed phone records to find people her daughter spoke to. "They named a number of men, older men, like my age.

"They were in the Transcona area, one was even on Regent, probably married," she said.

Daniels said she believes that man may have taken her daughter to the parking lot to have sex, and then dumped her there.

"There are a bunch of perverts on that chat line that are after young girls, underage girls, especially native girls, is what I think," she said.

Last week, the RCMP and Winnipeg Police Service said the task force has found similarities among 84 cases its investigation has identified.

"The Daniels case was concluded with the death being deemed accidental (and) therefore would not meet the mandate for review by the Missing and Murdered Women Task Force," WPS spokeswoman Const. Jackie Chaput said.

Chaput said accidental deaths do not fall into the review's mandate.

"I am unaware of any future plans to expand it," she said.

But Daniels said the task force needs to focus on cases like that of her daughter.

"Look at all these innocent little girls that are dying," she said.

"There's no one accountable for that at all. Drunk enough to go behind a real dark building that you can't even see without a flashlight and then knock herself out, give herself a bump on the head and a bunch of scrapes on her hands and knees?"

The autopsy report said Nicole's blouse was unbuttoned and her jacket was off when she was discovered in the snowbank.

The report attributes this to "paradoxical undressing," where people suffering from hypothermia begin to remove their clothing.

The autopsy report also noted Daniels may have been under the influence of sedatives.

Last February, 15-year-old Tamara Aller of Dauphin froze to death. Her body was found in a vacant lot next to a Dauphin parking lot, near Highway 20.

But in Aller's case, charges were laid after the RCMP consulted with Manitoba Justice.

In August, Allan Kostur and his wife, Mary-Anne Kostur, were each charged under the Liquor Control Act with permitting drunkenness and providing liquor to a minor.

The autopsy report does not say if Daniels' underwear was collected by the Medical Examiner's Office or by police, though her bra was cut off and placed aside for her family.

Her mother said if her daughter had been wearing underwear it was not returned to the family.

"The last time I seen her she was standing at the door and I asked her to be careful," Daniels said.

"I was worried about her. And then I was looking out the window and it was snowing and I was wondering where she was later that night.''

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 9, 2010 A3

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60 Commentscomment icon

agreed justice needs to be served and this case should not be closed.

the comments on here including mine are reactive to the lack of guardianship that is so evident in the mothers interview.

everyone feels bad for this family, its just that we hear this type of thing all the time and noone seems to learn that its easier to proactively be a good parent than to reactively live with tradgedy forever.

again as someone said these types of people (pervs murderers) will always exist, it is our responsibility as citizens and parents to pay attention and not be naive enough to believe that this world is a safe place.

I imagine the regret and second guessing that the mother is clearly feeling will NOT be absolved even if this case is pursued and the criminal is found.

I don't agree with alot of what some people are saying on here.

It shouldn't mean "case closed" just because her mother was not a "good" parent. That's like saying "you shouldn't have been wearing those sexy clothes and you wouldn't have been raped or "if you're a prostitute you deserve to be victimized or murdered."

Justice still needs to be served and all options should be covered, putting all feelings about the mother aside.

How awful for the mother to have to read all of the heartless comments some of you are posting! Don't you think she feels guilty enough?! Imagine feeling like justice will never be served for my daughter because I am a bad parent.

I love how this is everyone else's BUT the parents fault. Come on! Your teenage daughter is on a chat line with strangers? hmmm... maybe step in and parent. Your teenage daughter returns home drunk with her pants undone? Hmmm... again, time to parent. You watch your teenage daughter climb into a truck and 'drive away into the night' COME ON! I am so sick of all of these families claiming to care so much after bad things happen. If you loved your family member so much, perhaps you should have shown some concern when he/she was alive.

Everybody here could talk for days and days about whose fault this is...but the fact still remains that this was obviously a suspicious death that should most definitely be further investigated by the police. The way they are making this sound is that she was out walking around by herself...getting drunk then decided to sit around in the snow behind this car rental place and punch herself in the face then took off her own jacket and shirt and passed out in the snow...sounds highly unlikely to me.
I would say I have to agree with some of the people here and say...they only did this because she is a Native girl. Everyone knows this wouldn't have been the same if she was a white girl. There would have been a mass investigation about it.

Anyway...we miss you Nicole and truly hope you are a much happier girl now.

My heart aches for Nicole and her grieving family. Stephanie, I wish I knew of some way I could comfort you. Please know that I am a mom and I've raised 1 daughter and 2 sons. If they did something I didn't approve of or I saw red flags, I made sure to intervene, but in the real world you can't be with your child 24-7, especially when they are teenagers. My children may not have done anything in my home, but who knew what they were doing in their friend's homes? I was a strict mom with a good foundation in which to raise them, but this doesn't mean my children couldn't be influenced by other people. I taught them to think for themselves, but peer pressure and alcohol can cloud a bright mind.

No matter what some ignorant people might say, Stephanie, most people share your grief for Nicole. You and your family are dealing with enough and do not need to defend yourself, your sister or your family to anyone. As a mom, I can only imagine what your poor mother is going through.

I do not know any of your personally, but I am a mom and just the thought of losing my daughter this way, breaks my heart.

God Bless you all and know that some of us do care.

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Must take an awful lot of courage for a parent to tell the world about their child and then without fully knowing they are doing so, admit that they aren't the perfect parents either. I'm not bashing this mother and yes obviously there are some things they could have done, might have done or tried others but gotta give her credit for exposing herself and opening up to ridicule. Tough job being a parent but wasn't that hard when we were younger, parents who knew how to discipline properly, did so without the threat of the law coming after them. Heck, even school principles could belt you with the strap and when parents found out, got it again and actually deserved it.

Yup, her daughter was on the wrong track, probably for quite sometime but that's not the point here and some should be ashamed that they can't comprehend this today. You can call her a lousy parent if you like but remember this with your cowardly words, even good parents that do punish or monitor their bad children, are often looked upon as criminals/abusers, their bad kids even think so because the parents of their friends let theirs get away with all of it. How do you win this?

Hopefully this family has support in some way and if there are other children, hopefully something good comes from this in some way. Trust me on this too, something will come out later about who did this, maybe not soon enough to give the family their much needed closure but it will come out eventually..

My condolences.

I think the investigation should have included who she was online with, and who she cold have met at this party that she was chatting with prior. Was it the same person who left her to die?
Police don't care about investigations, it takes up too much of their "time". Look at how many murdered and slain women had to occur before they actually put a task force on it. NOW, they see similiarities. AND to make matters worse, look at the wing commander [edited]. You just never know people.....regardless of their stature in our communities.

With all the red flags ie drugs, drinking, older men my question as a parent would be why is my daughter doing this things and how can I help her. Not "How the hell could she get so drunk?"

@ stephaniedaniels
I'm sure just about everyone in here is sorry your sister died. The question on everyones mind is could it have been prevented? Of course it could have. It starts at home first and foremost. You will always have murderers and pervs and those who take advantage of the weak in the world. They have been around since the dawn of time. If your parents or your siblings knew Nicole better could they have prevented this? How could you not know what she was up to? Did you know something? Should you have spoke sooner? I know my sister and brother. I know exactly what they were up too and I ratted them out more than once because I knew what was right. They were mad and maybe beat the hell outta me more than once but they are still here. To me that is what counts.
And also it is our right to ask questions and talk about it. Maybe something then will get done instead of closing the case.

As the parent of teenage daughters I would cringe at the thought of the weekend coming and being fearful of their safety when they go out! However having a stable foundation of trust and involvment is paramount when dealing with teens...I can empathize with the mother and appreciate her anger and concern "after the fact"..but good parenting skills were or aren't evident in this case as per published story...sorry your daughter has become another tragic statistic of this lifestyle!

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