Mourners jam Carman hall to mourn slain mother and kids, cousin

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This article was published 21/02/2024 (567 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CARMAN — More than 100 people packed a hall in this devastated southern Manitoba community Wednesday to remember five members of a family slain in a violent rampage 10 days ago.

Streams of mourners — many of whom wore purple in response to a request from organizers — made their way inside Carman Community Hall to pay their respects to Amanda Clearwater, 30, her three children— two-month-old Isabella, four-year-old Jayven and six-year-old Bethany — and Clearwater’s 17-year-old cousin, Myah-Lee Gratton.

In lieu of flowers, some people made donations to a fund expected to commemorate the family with a memorial in the town of about 3,000.

RCMP have charged Clearwater’s common-law husband and father to the three children, Ryan Howard Manoakeesick, 29, with five counts of first-degree murder.

All five victims and Manoakeesick lived together in Carman, about 75 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

The victims were found dead at three separate locations on Feb. 11.

Rev. Harold Kenyon of Carman United Church, who did not officiate, said the service was emotional but the presence of the wider community and sense of support was palpable.

“People are still there, at the hall, visiting; that’s a big part of it, telling those stories afterward,” Kenyon told the Free Press in the sanctuary of his church following the service, which the media was asked not to attend.

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“I think that’s part of — it’s a big part of the reason we have funerals — we have celebrations of life, it provides people that opportunity to reflect on what these people have meant to us.”

As a church leader, Kenyon has overseen about 400 funerals.

“I’ve never seen anything like this…. It’s that grief of what might have been.”

Premier Wab Kinew was among those in attendance.

“I was really heartened, the hall was full of people, from all over the province, they came for this family and to express — as terrible as this is — there’s a lot of love in this community and in the province,” Kenyon said.

“I think that was very genuine.”

Carman and area residents began to come together almost immediately after the tragedy, he said.

“There were lots of people coming in with all those ‘how can we help’ kind of questions, and that was certainly all last week. People were coming and going, wanting to find ways to help, and there was really good co-ordination in the community and community groups — the town and the chamber (of commerce) and all that, they all worked together,” he said.

“Nobody could do that on their own.”

Residents regularly rally to support local families experiencing a loss, but this situation is on a massive scale, Kenyon said.

“People want to help; with any loss — but especially a tragic loss like this — nobody can cook, things like that, so people were taking hot meals to the families, and just trying to figure out all the different logistics of what they might need,” he said.

“Certainly for myself, and for lots of people, grief comes and goes.”

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Clearwater’s death was initially reported as a hit-and-run at about 7:30 a.m. Feb. 11. Her body was found in a ditch next to Highway 3 about seven kilometres south of Carman.

The three children were declared dead near a burning vehicle on Provincial Road 248, about 70 kilometres north of Carman, at about 10 a.m. Manoakeesick was arrested nearby.

Gratton’s body was found inside the family home.

Court records show Manoakeesick has struggled with mental illness and addictions. He was convicted in 2019 of a drug-fuelled crime and ordered to attend addictions and mental-health assessments.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.