'I believe I had checked well enough': Worker at B.C. group home where Cree teen found dead in closet testifies
Warning: This story contains details that readers may find disturbing.
A worker at the B.C. group home where Traevon Desjarlais was found dead in his closet days after he went missing told a coroner's inquest he checked the teen's room repeatedly – but there was no sign of him.
Desjarlais, who was 17 when he died in 2020, was Cree and living in an Abbotsford facility operated by the Fraser Valley Aboriginal Children and Family Services Society under contract to the provincial government.
Murray McMaster, who worked at the home at the time, said he reported Deslarlais' disappearance to the Ministry of Children and Family Development on Sept. 14, after finding his room empty.
He testified he repeatedly checked the home and Desjarlais’ bedroom, which had numerous large holes in the walls, in the days that followed.
"I went in. I looked around. I looked under the bed. I looked for any signs he had been back in there and I didn’t see any,” McMaster said, providing his testimony at the inquest by video link Thursday.
When asked if he had checked the closet, McMaster said, “I believe I had checked well enough.”
FOUL SMELL PROMTS FURTHER ACTION
But three days after the teen's disappearance, McMaster told the inquest, he noticed a smell coming from the basement.
"That’s when I started searching other areas of the house, the boiler room, under the stairs,” he testified, appearing by video link.
By Sept. 18, McMaster said it was "starting to enter my mind that he might be down there and I wasn’t finding him…That fear was in the back of my mind, yes.”
But he said he did not convey that fear to Abbotsford Police or tell them about the foul smell until they showed up at the home later that day.
Officers found Desjarlais’ body hanging in his bedroom closet shortly after arriving.
Desjarlais’ mother was at the inquest and wept as the worker testified, leaving the room at one point when she was overcome with emotion.
TEEN'S MENTAL HEALTH WAS DETERIORATING
A transcript of McMaster's Sept. 15 call to police, when he first reported Desjarlais missing to law enforcement, was also read at the inquest Thursday.
It indicated McMaster had not told them the teen was suicidal. However, earlier testimony indicated Desjarlais had made a suicidal comment the month prior.
McMaster said he called Abbotsford Police at that time, but was told they didn’t have cause to apprehend the teen under the Mental Health Act.
After that, McMaster said, Desjarlais' mental health further deteriorated.
“His behavior had become very erratic and I believe it was the reliving of trauma from events outside the home. He was struggling a lot,” McMaster said of the teen’s condition in September of 2020.
He also testified that, “I’m not trained to take somebody through trauma. I reached out for help.”
The worker said he did not believe Desjarlais was taking his medication at the time of his death and that Desjarlais had a history of going missing from the home.
An inquest into the teen's death was not mandatory, however one was ordered by the BC Coroners Service earlier this year because "there is reason to believe that the public has an interest in being informed of the circumstances."
While an inquest cannot make findings of fault, it has three main functions, according to the province: to determine the facts surrounding the death; to make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future; and "to ensure public confidence that the circumstances surrounding the death of an individual will not be overlooked, concealed or ignored."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.