Eyewitness contradicts Thunder Bay police account of Tammy Keeash death
Tammy Keeash was first found by a church group of children playing in the park and when they looked closer they saw the 17-year-old had her pants around her ankles and her underwear was below her buttocks, APTN National News has learned.
Tammy Keeash, 17, was discovered in a Thunder Bay waterway.
Tammy Keeash was first found by a church group of children playing in the park and when they looked closer they saw the 17-year-old was partially nude from the waist down, APTN National News has learned.
This new information conflicts with Thunder Bay police working theory that there was no evidence of foul play says Keeash’s mother, Pearl Slipperjack.
“Something is going on here,” said Slipperjack Friday when first told of the new information by an APTN reporter. “It makes me so mad. Angry.”
Keeash had been missing for about a day when she was spotted by a child belonging to the Redwood Park Church who alerted the pastor, Jesse Hochstetler.
Hochstetler said Keeash was face down on heavy reeds several metres into the Neebing McIntyre Floodway around 9 p.m. on May 7.
“Her pants were around her ankles,” said Hochstetler Friday.
The church is about 200 metres from where Keeash was found.
A fellow youth group member with a paramedic background assisted Hochstetler and they walked out to see if Keeash was alive.
He said other than checking for a pulse on her neck, they did not touch or disturb anything else and called 911.
Hochstetler said at first glance it didn’t look like there was any water in the floodway but once they started walking the water came up to their shins as they pressed down on the thick reeds.
“It looked like she had been there for a while. She looked deceased,” he said. “There were no signs of life.”
APTN reported Tuesday that Slipperjack was told by police Keeash was just a few feet in the floodway and that she was only wearing one shoe.
Hochstetler confirmed that and said he saw a grey sneaker in a spot on the hill above the floodway along with a black baseball cap and empty alcohol bottles.
“I went back to the spot after the police cleared the scene and everything was gone,” he said.
Hochstetler said he gave a statement to police.
Police determined Keeash’s cause of death was “consistent with drowning” just days after her body had been found. Police also said they didn’t have evidence of foul play.
Acting deputy chief Don Lewis repeated again Wednesday that the evidence in APTN’s story had been examined and he didn’t believe anyone had harmed her based on the evidence.
APTN has put questions to Thunder Bay police based on the new information and hasn’t heard back.
Slipperjack gasped when she was told of the new information.
“Really?” she said. “The investigator didn’t tell me that.”
Slipperjack has always believed something more happened to her daughter but she is now convinced.
She’s also convinced of something else.
“If this was a white person they would do everything they could,” said Slipperjack of the Thunder Bay police.
Police said Wednesday the case remains open.
Slipperjack is right when she said, “If this was a white person they would do everything they could,” said Slipperjack of the Thunder Bay police”.,,,,,,I truly believe something more would be done if the child was white…..
I agree. I have no doubt the only reason these tragedies continue to reoccur, is due to a group equipped methodically and with calculation enough to keep committing these heinous crimes. The police. The government. And because our communities are drowning in addiction, this places a clear target on First Nations People to excuse these crimes as well. The eye in the sky has seen all these crimes.The closest ones to retain answers would be reputable psychics, or anyone with the capacity to connect with the other side. We have those too.
With evEry death and Thunder Bay with the aboriginals is surrounded by drugs and alcohol. They come to a big city not knowing no one and somehow get hands On alcohol and drugs And hanging around the wrong group of people. There is too much dangerous things available to the people from small communities and that’s not only reserves this goes for every small community when coming to a bigger city. Teach your children to say no and the dangers. every child will drink underage that’s a given but every child in Thunder Bay know somebody or a safe location to do so and that’s not by Rivers.
an aptn, you should be a shame for not actually covering the full and truth of the news. for the 16 year old boy that was left at the hospital last weekend it was cuz alcohol played a factor and he has the rights to confidentiality and knowing that he was caught drinking in public and underage who knows what the real story was. Thunder Bay cops are great people and they work really hard they are overwhelmed how many aboriginals are coming to such a smaller City and causing so much trouble.
What do the cops have to hide. Keep on w investigating. Prayers for family.
Don’t blame the police for the insanity that is consuming the city of Thunder Bay . The pendulum will soon swing . We are heading into the dark ages. Ignorance, intoxication , murder, raping and pillaging . … Nothing new in this world. Eventually there will be a clash between those that value civilization and those that perpetuate madness. It’s inevitable as it always has been. It’s a matter of survival. Look at the extreme in the phillipines where junkies and thieves are being shot down in the streets. The question is how far does this society go before enough is enough.
Glen how would you explain the deaths of boys. Smh. Sound as stupid as tge police.
This isnt right one bit…. The poilice & rcmp does not care about aboriginal women and men. There is alot of missing and murdered aboriginal men and women, and yet the police won’t investigate it more. “Her pants were around her ankles”. Why would that not concern the police? There’s more to this than there already is.
I’d like to throw this out there as pure speculation as I have access to only the information in this article but is it beyond the realm of possibility that she was drinking, went to the washroom, and due to the deceptive water due to all the reeds as mentioned by the first responders she fell in and drowned?
Exactly
Taking a piss by the thick reeds? No way… nope.. doesnt sound right…nobody would do that
May I try on your pair of rose coloured glasses too?
THE POLICE DIDN’T EVEN SAY THAT HER PANTY’S AND PANTS WERE DOWN TO HER ANKLES ,SO WHAT ARE THEY HIDING
I had that same thought…just another perspective. And where are those who were with her?
Yes Glen, thats exactly what I thought. She may have squatted to pee, fallen forward, and unable to return upright as her arms sunk in to the water. I remember that happening to a friend at camp when we were younger; he didn’t drown, but would have if we hadn’t of dragged him out of the water.
I was going to suggest this as a possibility as well… I’m glad someone else did though. Of course it could have been many other things but…this is also a very good possibility as well. If they found her with her pants around her ankles, I’m going to assume they would also do a rape kit. I hope they would anyways. Poor girl… This is terrible 🙁
I was thinking the same
I so sorry the for the heart ache the parents if these children are going through…….why are they hidding the . Truth, we are all God’s people know matter if we’re black white any colorer.if someone is holding back the truth it will come out. and all this children and young kids are not drowning in the river someone is hurting them and making sure they will not tell anyone the truth. I hope the RMCP take over this and find the person or persons reasonable.and make them suffer the way these poor kids have suffered and there parents my God be with them and there family’s
Did any witnesses have their iphones & take pictures of the crime scene prior to the Keystone Kops showing up? Ask the congregation.
Im convinced these crimes are driven by racism and the people responsible are being protected. Why youth and Native kids suffer? I am so sickened by the way Aboriginal people are treated in this Country, reconciliation is a ploy for money to play with, it means nothing to anyone.
Thunderbay police should be hanging their heads in shame>
WWould the Police come to the same conclusion if she was a White girl? How could a girl with her pants and underwear pulled down to her ankles be considered a drowning? This sounds like a cover up more than anything!
Her mother must request the autopsy results!! The coroner only releases autopsy results to family members, if they request it. Inquest Now!
Condolescenes for Tammy Keeash and her family and friends. The Tunder bay Polcie are shameful adn tghey knwo this was foul play and they do not care. This scenario has been played in countless counties across the North America divide; Anna Mae Aquash, a Canadian Citizen, and from the Mic Mac tribe in Nova Scotia, is a prim example of cover-up. Her case the US FBI actually colluded wit the State officials, then State o SD Atty General, Bill Janklow and the State of SD, never even acted for over 30 years. Not until it was “political safe” enough to do otherwise did the xcase move forward. Indian Country´s Today I beleive it was, its editor, Mr. Paul DeMain and others acted against then current opinion along with others to bring out the actual facts, the same will be in play here…but at what cost? A whole lifetime just expose what the Thunder bay Polcie already know and will ultimately hide and stonewall its racism at it most ugliest and is definitely terroristic based..a young Native girl can be murdered and nobo0dy even cares except her own? That is the definitive example of terrorism, state-sponsored. My condolescences Richard Oakes, Raymond Yellow Thunder, Michael “Bunky” Ferris, Reggie Davis, Jr., are just a few who have ben murdered and left to no justice b y the white system of law and lack of enforcement.
“Tammy Keeash found with her pants and underwear pulled down…” — “Consistent with drowning”?!?!?!?!? Seems the police know what’s going on and are doing their best to cover it up. But, who will investigate the police? Someone should start a Go-Fund-Me for the family to hire the best private investigators cos there is some evil shit going on down there and it has been going on for far too long.
That is an excellent idea. There should be a go fund me page for investigators!
Sounds very suspicious and anyone who doesn’t see that should wipe the sh!t from their eyes. It’s time for the police to get to work and investigate because that’s what they’re supposed to do. Stop the nonsense by automatically declaring these deaths as drownings with no foul play suspected. There are too damn many for all to be drownings.
Why do the Police say these deaths are drowning with no foul play suspected? Would they react the same way if these were White people? If not can they say why not?
Its a cop or a group of them that do the hienus crimes , we need to push back all this peaceful protest shit ain’t working
Got any proof of that? You could be opening a can of worms that causes more problems than it solves.
I believe it to be true. For the volume of Missing and Murdered. For the manner in which these tragedies are mishandled. Its only pointing to a group big enough to calculatively and methodically continue to occur. The police. The government. Heinous.
This this so tragic as lack of RCMP’s response to the teen’s homicide only ensures this will happen again. Trudeau’s Truth and Reconciliation needs to start with the truth before there will be any thing to come of the inquiry that will benefit the First Nation’s people. Murdered and missing aboriginal women inquiry needs to be more than a ploy to win support from a troubled people as empty promises only add to the tragedy.
OMG!! this so sad very heartbreaking. I didn’t know tammy personally but knew who she was through family.. how can someone live with themselves to live with something like this hanging over their heads.. it’s hard to see all this happening to our youth I myself have youth living in that city, this is so heartbreaking especially her mother condolences to tammy’s family
Drowning, of course to cover their lax investigating. Sounds like a cover up!
Why are there so many Aboriginal youth drowning and not considered foul play? would the Police say the same thing and come to the same conclusion if these were White people?