RCMP await autopsy results after deaths of two 14-year-old girls found outside First Nation home

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This article was published 02/03/2023 (976 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two teen girls were pronounced dead after being found outside a home in St. Theresa Point First Nation in the frigid cold early Wednesday in an “unimaginable” tragedy.

RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Julie Courchaine said officers stationed at the nearby Island Lake detachment rushed to the community after the 14-year-old girls were found outside a home at about 8 a.m.

The girls were taken to the local nursing station, where they were pronounced dead.

“It’s absolutely a tragedy,” said Courchaine. “My sympathy goes out to the community and the families. I just can’t imagine what they’re going through, grieving the loss of these two young girls. It’s just unimaginable.”

Courchaine said Mounties believe the girls, who knew each other but were not siblings, were outside for several hours.

The overnight temperatures in the fly-in community reached -23C that night, which Courchaine said Mounties believe was a factor in their deaths.

“But we’re not able to confirm exactly what happened until an autopsy’s completed,” Courchaine said.

She said RCMP, who are in the early stages of their investigation, do not yet know why the girls were outside.

“We’re hoping to be able to get those answers for the family and the community,” Courchaine said.

“We’re still trying to piece together and gather all the information of what led up to this.”

First Nation safety officers in St. Theresa Point assisted the Mounties, she said. The RCMP detachment, which serves several First Nations communities in the area, is on Stevenson Island on Island Lake.

St. Theresa Point First Nation, which is about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, has a population of 3,417, according to federal census data. It is accessible only by air and by ice roads in the winter.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera