Hundreds allow police to collect DNA in Garden Hill investigation

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This article was published 08/02/2016 (3764 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Male residents of Garden Hill First Nation are allowing RCMP to collect DNA samples from them with hopes of solving the months-old slaying of an 11-year-old girl.

Garden Hill First Nation band councillor Larry Beardy said Monday he was one of the hundreds of men on the reserve who came forward to give a sample when a team of RCMP officers came last Sunday through Thursday.

“I had no problem,” Beardy said.

“We want somebody found for this. We all want to find out who did it. I haven’t heard anyone complaining about it.

“It’s the least we can do.”

The remains of 11-year-old Teresa Robinson were found in the bush last May days after she was last seen leaving a birthday party at the community of 4,000 people.

It was believed at first that Teresa had been attacked by a bear, but RCMP determined while her remains had been disturbed by animals, she had been the victim of a homicide. No arrests have been made.

RCMP Sgt. Bert Paquet said officers were in the fly-in community, located 615 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, most of last week getting DNA samples from men aged 15 to 66.

Paquet said the officers will return to get more samples, but they are not saying when they will go back or how many samples they have collected so far.

Samples will be destroyed: police

“Our investigators have made it clear from the start that samples would be used for this investigation only, then destroyed upon the conclusion of the case,” he said.

“A big part of this initiative is based on the trust we share with the members of this community.

“The Garden Hill First Nation community has been extremely supportive of our unprecedented efforts to identify the person responsible for Teresa’s murder.”

Paquet said people have the right to opt out of giving a sample.

“That action alone doesn’t make you a suspect,” he said.

“The tactic of collecting DNA is not new, but the magnitude of the task in this specific case is certainly unusual. It truly demonstrates the length investigators are willing to go in order to bring an unsolved case to a successful conclusion.”

University of Manitoba professor Arthur Schafer, founding director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, called the police actions “an ethically questionable procedure.”

But Schafer said that doesn’t mean police should never resort to the tactic.

“It shouldn’t be ruled out but it should only be used in certain circumstances, including exhausting all other police techniques.

“It should be a last resort and not a first resort.”

Schafer said RCMP will have to make sure they do what they have promised and only use the samples for this investigation and destroy them when they are no longer needed.

“The most important asset police have to have is the trust of the community,” he said.

“If they forfeit that trust they will pay a heavy price.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca