RCMP: Sioux Valley deaths murder-suicide

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/05/2016 (3464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sioux Valley Dakota Nation — More than a year after two bodies were found inside a home on this First Nation, RCMP have confirmed that the deaths were a “murder-suicide.”

But what exactly happened inside that home remains a mystery, at least publicly.

Manitoba Mounties say the investigation is concluded, but didn’t specify who killed who and how.

“The investigation was found to be a murder/suicide after being able to eliminate anyone else being responsible for the deaths,” Manitoba RCMP spokesman Sgt. Bert Paquet stated in an email sent to The Brandon Sun on Friday in response to a request for an update.

While RCMP clarified that drugs didn’t play a role in the deaths of either George Shakespeare or Rayannin Branth, they didn’t specify what killed them.

“As to the specifics of the investigation including any medical evidence this will not be discussed,” Paquet wrote.

The bodies of Shakespeare, 27, and Branth, 32, were found in a house at the First Nation on March 27, 2015.

Relatives said that Shakespeare lived at the bungalow with his mother.

It was Shakespeare’s mom, who had been in hospital for more than a week, who returned home to find the bodies, Shakespeare’s great uncle, Elvis Antoine, said shortly after the discovery.

Antoine said he saw the bodies of Branth and Shakespeare (described as friends) lying on a bed together.

While there were no wounds that he could see on either of them, there seemed to be blood on the side of Branth’s head.

In the living room, Antoine said, there was a medical needle and a bloody knife on the floor.

The discovery came when the Dakota Ojibway Police Service still policed the First Nation (it later became RCMP jurisdiction).

However, the Brandon RCMP Major Crimes Unit and forensic identification officers assisted DOPS in the investigation. DOPS would later refer queries about the case to RCMP.

While rumour quickly spread through justice circles that the case was a murder-suicide, RCMP deemed it “suspicious” and police awaited the results of toxicology tests before releasing their findings.

On Friday, Paquet said the investigation was lengthened by the wait for the toxicology report that ultimately allowed RCMP to conclude the case was murder-suicide. However, the results of those tests weren’t shared.

Also, Paquet stated, time was needed to advise the deceaseds’ families and chief and council.

However, Sioux Valley Chief Vincent Tacan, and those relatives of Shakespeare and Branth that The Brandon Sun could reach Friday afternoon, said they still don’t know what happened.

“They may have briefed somebody, but it wasn’t me,” Tacan said of RCMP, although he noted he has been busy with meetings and hasn’t been able to answer his phone.

“From a prevention point of view, it would be helpful to know what went on and that would tell us what we would have to focus on, in terms of if there was anything we could do,” Tacan said, referring to the fact RCMP took over policing at Sioux Valley in January.

“… I’m confident that they will give us information in due course, because they’ve been pretty good so far.”

For example, Tacan said, if the deaths had been due to suicide or drugs, the chief and council could introduce measures to prevent similar tragedies.

Two of Shakespeare’s cousins also said they still haven’t heard exactly what happened.

One cousin said that RCMP had told family members it was a murder-suicide at some point, but they’re still not sure who killed who. However, that cousin said he hasn’t pressed the issue with Shakespeare’s mother and suggested speaking to her.

Attempts by The Brandon Sun to reach Shakespeare’s mother at her home shortly after the bodies were found, and again on Friday, failed.

She also couldn’t be reached at a phone number provided by a relative.

Antoine, when spoken to again on Friday, said he didn’t know what happened, either. Nor did Branth’s father, Raymond White.

White said he was told by police that it wasn’t foul play, and this was the first he had heard of a murder-suicide.

He said he received a phone call that informed him the deaths were due to overdose, although it wasn’t clear from the interview whether the call came from police, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office or some other body.

“I really don’t know what happened for sure,” White said. “I’d like to know how they both died, and what caused it.”

Even though Branth and Shakespeare are deceased, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office said on Friday that cause of death is personal health information and protected by legislation, and it refused to release autopsy results.

It’s not information released to the general public, a representative said.

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @IanHitchen