Family gives name to infant left to die in trash bin

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This article was published 10/06/2022 (1560 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A newborn girl referred to as “Baby Moar” after being found dead in a garbage bin in Winnipeg’s North End last month has been given a name.

Great-grandfather Melvin Moar said the infant was named Klencie Liberty Heaven Moar, believing it to be the correct spelling.

“I like it. It’s a good name,” he told the Free Press on Friday. “To me, it means something good.”

“It’s a beautiful name,” said Moar’s great-aunt and godmother, who declined to give her name.

The girl’s body was found in a garbage bin in a back lane between Boyd and Redwood avenues, west of Powers Street, on May 3.

Her mother, Jeanene Rosa Moar, 31, was charged Tuesday with manslaughter after an initial charge of concealing the body of a child. Police believe the baby was alive when she was put in the bin.

Melvin said he reacted with disbelief when he learned about the allegations against his granddaughter Wednesday, after Winnipeg police announced details at a news conference.

Police referred to the infant as “Baby Moar” to acknowledge she was a person.

“(Jeanene) wasn’t in the right mind. She needs some help. People are judging her before they know the facts,” her maternal grandfather said. “Jeanene is distant from the family. We were always trying to help her, but she distanced herself from us.”

Melvin said he hasn’t seen his granddaughter in a “long time,” but hopes to visit her at the Women’s Correctional Centre in Headingley.

Other family members told the Free Press they haven’t seen or heard from Moar in months or years.

Moar’s mother, Charlene, previously said her daughter refused to believe she was pregnant, and doesn’t understand what has happened because she is mentally unwell.

As he tries to come to grips with the situation, Melvin is asking why police waited more than a month to announce the baby’s death.

Moar was arrested on May 3 at a home close to where the newborn was found. She was admitted to hospital for medical precautions.

She was re-arrested Tuesday at the Women’s Correctional Centre after a manslaughter charge was authorized.

“If this happened back in May, why did we only hear about it on Wednesday?” her grandfather asked.

Spokesman Const. Jay Murray said city police “rely on myriad reasons” when deciding when to release information about an incident. That can include any investigative concerns, the risk to public safety, progression of the case and the status of charges.

“I can tell you that those four factors, along with others, were carefully considered,” Murray wrote in an email. “It is important to note that the accused in this manner was not charged with manslaughter until recently — and we typically cannot acknowledge individuals are being investigated until which time charges are formally laid (for privacy reasons).”

There was a gap between the May 3 arrest and the manslaughter charge because of forensic and medical analysis, and consultation with the Crown, police said earlier this week.

No one else has been charged.

Melvin said was aware Moar was pregnant, but he didn’t know the baby’s due date or the identity of the child’s father.

“I was happy and sad at the same time (about the pregnancy) because she had a couple of other children who weren’t with her,” he said, referring to Moar’s two sons, who were apprehended after they were born years ago.

In 2018, Moar was sentenced to a month in jail for stealing a car. A court heard she was diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, struggled with addictions to methamphetamine and alcohol, and was homeless.

She was raised by her maternal grandmother in Teulon, about 50 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

She has received support from Life’s Journey, a non-profit social services agency in Winnipeg that helps people with neuro-developmental disorders, including FASD, her family said.

The Moar family learned of the manslaughter charge while mourning Jeanene’s younger sister, Danielle, who died earlier this week.

Melvin said the family is waiting for more information about how she died.

“It’s terrible. There’s not much that can be done but to pray for them,” he said, referring to the sisters.

Melvin’s 16-year-old granddaughter, Eishia Hudson, who was Jeanene’s cousin, was fatally shot by Winnipeg police in April 2020 while officers investigated a robbery at a Liquor Mart.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said, noting two of his sisters have died recently.

Child and Family Services and Life’s Journey declined to comment.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching