Mother in shock after tragic loss
Young daughter and partner killed in fire in their carnduff home
A day after Destinee Wiebe lost her four-year-old daughter and partner in an early morning blaze, the 22-year-old Carnduff woman was still in a state of severe shock.
Around 2 a.m. Thursday, the mobile home Wiebe shared with her daughter, Daniyela, and commonlaw husband Ryan Raven, 24, was engulfed in flames.
Destinee got out of the burning building in time, but Daniyela and Raven did not.
Destinee’s grief-stricken mother, Cyndi Wiebe, called Tammy Peters, a close relative who lives near Winkler in Manitoba with the devastating news.
“She was screaming and crying,” Peters said. “It was very hard to make out anything that she said, just that Destinee’s house was on fire and the baby and Ryan were still in there.”
Destinee suffered second-degree burns, but is in stable condition. She’s staying at her parents’ Carnduff home where she remains in a severe state of shock, Peters said.
“I think she’s in a state of denial,” she said. “She’s trying to wake up from this nightmare, just hoping that it’s a bad dream. She isn’t remembering anything that happened and she’s not really speaking to anybody.
“When she got home from the hospital she went into her mom’s bedroom and she would not speak to police; she would not speak to her mom.”
Destinee opened up a little bit to her best friend, Peters’ daughter Stacey.
“They still don’t know how Destinee got out of the house and she doesn’t remember anything,” Peters said. “Destinee just remembers showing up at the neighbour’s house.”
She feels heartbroken for the family’s loss.
“Daniyela was a sweet little girl that just captured everyone’s hearts,” Peters said. “She was full of energy and curious to learn. She loved animals and she loved children, and she loved her memaw, her grandma Cyndi.”
Peters had never met Raven, but knew all about him through Destinee and Cyndi.
“He was a great, great guy who was abandoned by his mom in his teens and he considered Cyndi his mom,” Peters said. “He was very much a part of the family.”
Destinee is a great stay-at-home mom who has experienced tough times in her young life, Peters said.
Daniyela’s birth father left just after she was born, she said.
“She finally got to a place in life where she was settled and life seemed normal — like happy family normal, and then it was just all taken from her,” Peters said.
Shortly after Peters found out about Destinee’s loss she set up a GoFundMe page
She hopes the funds raised will cover funeral costs and help Destinee get back on her feet.
“They had no insurance at all,” Peters said. “Ryan did work, but it was paycheque to paycheque .... Unfortunately, there was no extra money for life insurance and things of that sort.”
By Friday afternoon, $5,278 had been raised towards the $30,000 goal.
Meanwhile, family friend Bev Ireland gathered clothes, shoes and a bed for Destinee.
“It’s a tragedy,” Ireland said. “We’re heartbroken, especially with the loss of the little girl. We’d just seen her on Wednesday.”
The house trailer was ablaze when firefighters from Carnduff and the RM of Mount Pleasant #2 Fire Department arrived at the residence on the 100 block of Baglole Crescent. The fire quickly spread to a neighbouring house trailer and vehicle.
The intense flames prevented the 18 firefighters from getting into the first mobile home, but they got the fire at the second mobile home under control and stopped it from spreading to other homes in the area.
After both fires were extinguished, two bodies were discovered in the first home.
Firefighters secured the scene and turned the investigation over to the RCMP, the Fire Commissioners Office and Yorkton Forensic Identification Services.
According to the RCMP on Friday, the investigation is ongoing.
(It’s) hard to deal with either way. Being over, I don’t feel like I have a lot of closure right now, until (recommendations are) absolutely put into place and I know that changeshave been made SHERRI CHARTRAND, mother of Breanna Kannick
It’s a tragedy. We’re heartbroken, especially with the loss of the little girl. We’d just seen her on Wednesday.