Victim’s family receives report
Relatives of woman killed in 2010 filed complaint into RCMP’s handling of case
The brother of a woman who police believe was murdered near Edmonton eight years ago says a formal complaint launched over the RCMP’s handling of the case is complete.
Paul Tuccaro, Amber Tuccaro’s brother, said Thursday that family members now have a copy of a 120page report on their complaint, which was filed with the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP in 2014.
Family, friends and advocates will announce details about the report during a news conference at Edmonton’s Chateau Nova Kingsway hotel next Wednesday.
“It’s done,” Paul Tuccaro said of the report, adding he would wait until the news conference to discuss its contents.
“Right now ... we’re just getting all our bases covered and making sure we’ve got our statements and everything all ready and good to go.”
Of the report, he said “we’re going to be talking a little bit about it and we’ll be sharing some of it.”
Tuccaro added the report will likely have an impact on Canada’s ongoing inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
“It was pretty shocking when we first got it there,” he said. “It just brought up everything again.”
Amber Tuccaro, 20, was a mother of one who lived in Fort McMurray. She flew from Fort McMurray to Edmonton on Aug. 17, 2010 with her 14-month-old son Jacob and a female friend.
She was last seen at a motel in Nisku, where the three were staying on Aug. 18, 2010.
Police believe that between 7:308 p.m. that night, she got into a vehicle with an unknown man to travel to Edmonton. While in the vehicle, she received a phone call, of which police obtained a recording.
In the recording, which investigators later released, Amber repeatedly asks the man if he’s taking her to the city. He assures her he is taking her to “50th Street.”
Tuccaro’s skull was found in rural Leduc County on Sept. 1, 2012, nearly two years later.
The complaint against the RCMP alleges evidence from the Nisku motel room was destroyed and that Leduc RCMP removed Amber from the missing person’s list without following proper policy.
Paul Tuccaro told the missing and murdered women’s inquiry last November that the RCMP also destroyed Amber’s belongings, despite the fact no one had been charged in her death. During the hearing, he described a dismissive investigation that did not communicate adequately with the family.
Family members were initially told the report would take 12-16 months, he said Thursday. Instead, it arrived four years later.
At the time the family filed the official complaint, RCMP Sgt. Josee Valiquette told media the force recognizes “initial elements of the investigation were mishandled.”
The organization that handles complaints against the RCMP has since been renamed the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (CRCC).
CRCC spokeswoman Kate McDerby said the organization does not release reports into complaints made by families, saying it’s up to them to decide whether or not to make the results of a complaint public.
It was pretty shocking when we first got it there. It just brought up everything again.