Circumstances
Tina Fontaine, 15, was reported missing on July 31, 2014. On August 17, 2014, Fontaine’s body was found wrapped in plastic, a duvet cover and weighted down with rocks in Winnipeg’s Red River. What happened to Fontaine between her missing report and her body being found is still sketchy.
June 30, 2014: Tina travels to Winnipeg
Fontaine lived with her sister, Sarah, and her great-aunt, Thelma Favel, in her home in Sagkeeng First Nation. In June of 2014, Tina and Sarah traveled to Winnipeg on a planned week-long visit to their birth-mother, Valentina Duck. However, Sarah returned home right away.
June/July 2014: Tina begins dating Cody Mason
Eighteen-year old Cody Mason meets Fontaine on Stella Ave. near the Salter Street Bridge. Tina tells Cody that she ran away from home. Mason takes her to his father’s home on Selkirk Ave. where she stayed for two weeks.
June/July 2014: Tina meets Raymond Cormier
Raymond Cormier was riding his bike on Charles St, when he is stopped by Mason and Fontaine. They ask Cormier if they can stay with him for the night. Cormier is homeless, but directs them to another house for a place to crash. Mason later says that he and Fontaine saw Cormier a few times after that, and that he had given them “gabbies” (street name for gabapentin).
July 2014: Cormier living in tent
Cormier moved into a tent in the backyard of Ida Beardy’s home she shared with her daughter, Chantelle, on Alexander Ave. Ida asked Cormier to leave after he smashed her BBQ when his bicycle was stolen. Ida Beardy later testified that she recognized the duvet cover Fontaine’s body was wrapped in as belonging to Cormier.
July 14, 2014: Fontaine seen with Cormier
Fontaine was seen by Andre Lemaitre with two men outside his apartment. She introduced one of the men as her boyfriend, but did not introduce Cormier to Lemaitre. She told Lamaitre that she and the men were homeless and selling weed. Fontaine called Lamaitre later that night looking for a place to stay. He turned her down.
July 17, 2014: Favel calls CFS
Thelma Favel became worried after not hearing from Fontaine for weeks, so she called Southeast Child and Family Services. Social worked Kimberly Chute later testified that she helped find Fontaine a room at a local motel, but Tina ran away and was reported missing.
July 23, 2014: Fontaine spotted on Salter St.
Chute offered Fontaine a ride after she spotted her walking down Salter St. Chute took Fontaine to Ndinawe group home where she stayed for a couple of days.
July 27, 2014: Fontaine reported missing
Traverse reported Fontaine missing to the Winnipeg police, but Fontaine returned to Ndinawe within a few hours and report is cancelled.
July 30: Fontaine reported missing again
Traverse reported Fontaine missing again. Fontaine never returns leaving her clothes behind.
August 1-2, 2014: Fontaine stays with aunt for long weekend
Fontaine’s aunt, Lana, reported that Fontaine stayed with her for two nights and stopped by a few days later to borrow a sweater.
August 6: Fontaine reports Cormier to police for stealing a truck
Cormier stole a truck with tools inside from Regent Ave.
Mason returned to his home in St. Theresa Point. Fontaine was upset and rode her bicycle to a home on 22 Carmen Ave. There, she met Sarah Holland, Tyrell Morrison, and Cormier. Cormier borrowed Fontaine’s bike to buy drugs and ended up selling it for 2 grams of pot. Fontaine and Cormier fought when he returned. Fontaine leaves.
Cormier later tells police he and Fontaine fought about the bike, but others testified that Cormier was being inappropriate.
Fontaine called police from a payphone at Main St. and Magnus Ave. and reported Cormier for stealing the truck. After she hung up, she borrowed a cigarette from Robert Sango, a parolee living at a halfway house nearby. Fontaine told Sango she had no place to stay because there was an older man trying to make a move on her at house where she had been living. She also admitted she was afraid she was being followed. She left in the direction of Sutherland Ave.
August 7, 2014: Fontaine meets “Katrina”
A woman identified as “Katrina” who wished to remain anonymous met Fontaine outside of a convenience store at Langside St. and Ellice Ave. Fontaine was sitting outside with a busted lip. Katrina says she spent the next three days trying to help Fontaine get off the street.
August 8, 2014: Winnipeg police let Fontaine go
Two policemen, Cornelis Brock Jansen and Craig Houle, pulled a truck over at Isabel St. and Logan Ave. after they witnessed it driving erratically near Ellice Ave. and Furby St.
The driver was taken into custody for driving with a suspended licence, and Fontaine was found in the passenger seat. She gave the police two fake names before identifying herself as Tina Fontaine and claimed to be staying at the Quest Inn. The officers did not ask her age, and later testified they did not see an alert about Fontaine being missing on the computer.
Later that night, the University of Winnipeg security was called when someone found Fontaine passed out in a parking lot on Ellice Ave. Paramedics were called, roused Fontaine and walked her into an ambulance.
Fontaine told the ER doctor, Dr. Andrea Wilke Gilmore, that she had been drinking alcohol, smoking week and popping gabapentin. Her blood and urine tests also showed methamphetamine and cocaine. A hospital social worked contacted CFS.
Chute arrived at the hospital and sat by Fontaine’s bed while other workers looked for a place for her to stay. They booked Fontaine into the Best Western Charterhouse Hotel. Chute took Fontaine to a drive-thru to get some food. While she ate she told Chute that she had been hanging out with a meth-head named Sebastian (aka Cormier) and that he was trying to get her a bicycle. Chute replied that CFS could also get her a bike if she stayed in CFS placement.
Chute left Fontaine with Ngozi Ikeh, a worker who looked after teens placed by CFS in hotels. Fontaine tells Ikeh she is leaving to meet friend at Portage Place. Fontaine did not return that night.
Katrina later reported that the last time she saw Fontaine, she was walking away with a man who had solicited her for sex
August 92014: Fontaine reported missing
CFS reported Fontaine as missing to Winnipeg police again.
August 17, 2014: Fontaine’s body found in Red River
A man fishing with his son spotted Fontaine’s body in the water. Police divers recover Fontaine’s body wrapped in a Costco duvet cover with rocked weighting her down. She has since been laid to rest at Sagkeeng First Nation next her father.
September 30, 2014: Police receive a tip from an inmate
An inmate at Milner Ridge Correctional Centre, Ernest DeWolft to talke to Sarah Holland, Tyrell Morrison, and Raymond Cormier at 22 Carmen Ave. about Fontaine’s murder. He reports that Cormier had previously told him he had sex with Fontaine and that she had threatened to call police about him stealing the truck. Cormier said he had straightened it out.
October 1, 2014: Police interview Cormier
When police arrived at 22 Carmen Ave., Cormier tried to run. He was arrested and interviewed. He denied having anything to do with Fontaine’s death. He remained jailed with outstanding warrants.
June 2015: Cormier released from jail
Police wiretapped Cormier’s apartment at 400 Logan Ave. and listened for six months.
January 29, 2018: Cormier tried for second-degree murder of Tina Fontaine
February 22, 2018: Cormier found not guilty in the death of Tina Fontaine
About
Name: Tina Fontaine
Age: 15
Place of Murder: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date of Murder: August 8, 2014
Murderer: Unknown. Raymond Cormier was tried for second-degree murder in the death of Tina Fontaine, but he was found not guilty on February 22, 2018
Cause of Death: Undetermined
Race: Indigenous
Vulnerabilities: Addictions, Homeless, Sex Trade Worker/Sex Trafficked/Sexually Exploited
