Family seeks answers after 53-year-old woman with mobility issues found dead in a field off Highway 8
Remains of Lori Ann Mancheese from Ebb and Flow First Nation found near Grassmere Road in RM of West St. Paul
The family of a woman from Ebb and Flow First Nations is seeking answers after her remains were found a field off the highway in the rural municipality of West St. Paul last Monday.
On June 6 around 4:30 p.m., RCMP received a report of remains found in a field east of Highway 8, close to Grassmere Road, RCMP said in a news release on Monday.
Officers went to the scene and found a woman's body.
Police have identified the woman as 53-year-old Lori Ann Mancheese from Ebb and Flow First Nation.
Mancheese's niece, Eugenia Houle, says the family wants answers.
"We're frustrated. We don't know what happened because we still weren't given the cause [of] death, what happened to her. And more disturbing as to the location she was found," she said.
Houle says her aunt would stay with her at Ebb and Flow First Nation, but Mancheese left for Winnipeg in early May. The last time anyone in the family spoke to her was mid-May.
Houle says police told the family her aunt's body had been in the field for close to a week.
She wants to know how Mancheese got there, considering she had mobility issues and used a walker.
"I think they were saying it was like a quarter mile off the highway into the field, that's where she was found. Mainly that's the one that bothers all of us because she had arthritis in her legs, and we wonder if she could've made it out that way on her own," Houle said.
'Sweet to everybody'
RCMP say the results of Mancheese's autopsy are pending. They are continuing to investigate the circumstances of her death, but at this point in the investigation, RCMP said Mancheese's death appears to be non-criminal in nature.
Houle says she'll remember her aunt as loving and kind.
"She was sweet to everybody. She always told everyone she loved them," she said.
"She was good with all our kids. Even if they weren't her grandchildren, if they were somebody else's, she loved all the little kids."
Police are asking anyone with information about the death to contact RCMP at 204-482-1222, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or leave a secure tip online.
