Medical examiner declares 2004 death a homicide, applauds victim’s son for ‘tireless efforts’

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This article was published 24/07/2023 (836 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nearly two decades after 87-year-old Jessie Garwood was found dead in the basement of her Winnipeg home, her death is now being classified as a homicide.

It’s a development her son Jim Garwood hopes will finally convince police and justice officials to reopen an investigation into her 2004 death, originally determined to have been accidental.

“It was a totally amazing event,” Garwood said of a letter he received earlier this month from Manitoba chief medical examiner Dr. John Younes who, after reviewing the evidence in the case, concluded her injuries could not have been the result of an accidental fall, as police originally believed.

“When I got the letter, both my wife and I weren’t only elated about it, but it caused us each to have some tears in our eyes, because we have been at it for nearly 20 years,” Garwood said.

Garwood has long believed his mother was the victim of foul play at the hands of his former step-granddaughter Catherine Johnson, the last person to see Jessie Garwood alive and the person who discovered her body.

A pathology report at the time said Jessie Garwood suffered 13 injuries to her head — injuries Garwood argued were more consistent with an assault as there were only eight stairs in her basement.

Garwood pushed Younes to re-examine the case after a 2022 civil court ruling finding default judgment against Johnson in the amount of $50,000 plus court costs after she failed to show up in court for trial.

“Given the nature and distribution of the injuries identified at autopsy… and the much more complete understanding I have of the scene and the many significant findings there, I can think of no plausible explanation other than at least some of the injuries were deliberately inflicted,” Younes wrote in a letter dated July 6. “I no longer believe all of the injuries could possibly have resulted from accidental falls.”

Younes said he would be amending the case file to reflect a change in the cause of death from “undetermined” to “homicide” and inform Winnipeg police of his findings.

“This would not have been possible without your tireless efforts to bring this evidence to light and my attention,” Younes wrote. “You have my gratitude.”

Garwood said Johnson left Canada around the time he filed his wrongful death lawsuit and is now living in Arizona.

“I would like to see police pursue the matter,” Garwood said. “The key thing now is that somebody in the police department admit that they screwed things up so royally, and the Crown (prosecutors) as well. We suspect the Crown didn’t want to pursue it because the police… didn’t want to do anything.”

The Manitoba Prosecution Service “will review any new evidence,” a spokesperson said in an email to the Free Press, but provided no additional comment.

The Winnipeg Police Service did not reply to an email request for comment by deadline Monday.

Garwood was preparing to move ahead with a private prosecution against Johnson in 2018 when a judge advised him to provide his evidence to the Crown’s office for evaluation. A prosecutor advised him last year the case wouldn’t be strong enough to support a conviction.

In 2019, at the same time the Crown was reviewing the case, Garwood filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Johnson who, by that time, had moved to Arizona. Johnson filed a statement of defence saying she didn’t kill Jessie Garwood, but didn’t offer an alternative explanation.

Garwood’s statement of claim alleged Johnson had pushed his mother down the stairs or had physically assaulted her.

In the months prior to Jessie Garwood’s death, Johnson forged four cheques in her name totalling $14,000, James Garwood alleged in his statement of claim.

The night Jessie Garwood died, her Victoria Lifeline pendant was activated, says the statement of claim. When an operator called to check on Garwood, Johnson answered the phone and said Garwood had fallen but was uninjured, the statement of claim alleged.

Then-chief medical examiner Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra wrote a letter to then-Winnipeg police chief Keith McCaskill in August 2011, suggesting investigators reopen the case.

“Although our office initially assumed the death was an accident, we later changed the manner of death to undetermined, as the death appears not to be an accident,” Balachandra wrote.

“I think it would be prudent to investigate this case further, as it appears that foul play may have been involved in this case.”

Garwood said Balachandra wrote to police “two or three” times, but they “wouldn’t budge, which we could never understand.”

I don’t know that (police) are going to do anything or want to do anything,” Garwood said. “They may be forced into doing it.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca