‘I really do love you’: teen’s final text to mom

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This article was published 14/02/2024 (573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg mom broke down as she talked about the last message she got from her 17-year-old daughter just one night before she and four others were slain.

“I really do love you and I appreciate you. I’m sorry I wasn’t good at showing my appreciation,” Myah-Lee Gratton had written to her mother, Juliette Hastings, on Feb. 10.

Hastings is demanding accountability from Manitoba’s child-welfare system as she grieves for her daughter and the four other victims of the senseless killing on Sunday, allegedly at the hands of 29-year-old Ryan Howard Manoakeesick of Carman.

“I want justice for my daughter. I want justice for CFS to admit to me their mistakes, I want them to own up,” she said.

Myah-Lee was staying with Manoakeesick, his common-law wife Amanda Clearwater, 30, and the couple’s three young children. Manoakeesick is charged with five counts of first-degree murder.

Hastings said she knew he was violent and had personally witnessed his aggression. When her teenage daughter rebelled and went to live with the family in Carman in spring 2023, Hastings said she repeatedly tried to warn Child and Family Services.

“I told (CFS) she shouldn’t be there; it’s not safe,” Hastings said.

Although they are not related, Clearwater was like an aunt to Myah-Lee and they had a close relationship, Hastings said.

The families are connected through Clearwater’s mother, who was Hastings’ foster sister.

“I want justice for my daughter. I want justice for CFS to admit to me their mistakes, I want them to own up.”–Juliette Hastings

Clearwater and Manoakeesick were high school sweethearts, together since she was 14, Hastings said. But she said she thought Manoakeesick was odd when she first met him, and in recent years she believed he was “losing it.”

“He was the darkness over Mandy. We loved Mandy,” she said.

Hastings described seeing Manoakeesick act aggressively by throwing chairs and intimidating Clearwater, during a four- or five-month period when she stayed with the couple about four years ago.

She said she never saw him act violently toward the children.

“I talked to Mandy, she said, ‘Oh, it’s just Ryan, just leave him alone.’”

“I said I hope Mandy leaves him. Mandy never left him, because she loved him that much,” Hastings said.

Myah-Lee lived with the family in Carman for about 10 months after threatening to kill herself while she lived at home.

Hastings said the teenager was grieving the loss of her aunt, Hastings’ sister, in 2021.

She said a CFS worker approved the placement even though she tried to warn against it “from the get-go.”

“I said no, it is not safe. He will do something. ‘Oh, he’s taking his meds, Julie, that’s the only way he’s allowed to be there is if he takes his meds,” was the response she said she received from CFS.

The provincial government didn’t confirm whether the 17-year-old had been in CFS care or was in an approved CFS placement. A provincial government spokesperson stated Wednesday the province does not comment on CFS placements and wouldn’t comment on the RCMP’s homicide investigation.

The office of Manitoba’s Advocate for Children and Youth said it would determine whether the deaths of the four children are within its legal scope to investigate and issue recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths.

“As this case is under criminal proceedings, we can’t comment more on this case specifically. However, in cases where a child is found to fall within scope, our team does complete reviews with the intent of identifying and tracking systemic issues,” said Manitoba Advocate Sherry Gott,

Myah-Lee, who was naturally athletic and loved sports, was protective of her younger ‘siblings,’ “who followed her like little ducks,” Hastings said.

Myah-Lee wanted to be a fashion designer and had asked for a sewing machine for Christmas.

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In the long text the night before she died, Myah-Lee expressed her plans for the future. She wanted to switch to adult education and get her GED high school equivalency certificate and go to work. She was saving up to get tattoos in honour of her late aunt and grandma.

She wanted to get a tattoo that read: “God is within her. She will not fail.”

“That one reminds me of you,” she wrote to her mom, just before midnight on Feb. 10. “You always remind me that I have you and God by my side, and everyone up in heaven, too.”

“I could’ve had her home. She could be home,” Hastings said through tears as she read the message aloud.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Katie May
Multimedia producer

Katie May is a multimedia producer for the Free Press.

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