Family taunted by messages on son’s death
‘Just to let you know we made him suffer,’ says Facebook missive
A grieving mother on the Ahtahkakoop First Nation says her family is being “tormented” after she received vile messages from a Facebook account with the name and image of her dead son.
Lisa Johnstone was recently enjoying a cigarette on her deck when her phone chimed with an alert: she had a Facebook friend request. She opened the app and saw her son’s face and name.
“That sick bastard made me think for a quick second my son was alive. Then I remembered where my son was: inside in an urn on the table,” Johnstone said in an interview.
The remains of Johnstone’s son, 20-year-old Brennan Ahenakew, were found May 10 in a burning vehicle on the Ahtahkakoop First Nation. RCMP have classified the death as suspicious.
Johnstone said the person behind the Facebook profile sent her messages that purportedly included details about her son’s final moments.
“Just to let you know we made him suffer,” says one of the messages, which Johnstone forwarded to the Saskatoon Starphoenix. “He was begging for his life.” Johnstone reported the messages to Shellbrook RCMP. She said RCMP told her to block the account so she would not receive further messages from it.
“It’s disgusting, it’s inhumane, it’s evil,” an emotional Johnstone said. “My family is being tormented.”
RCMP Cpl. Rob King said the force is looking into Johnstone’s complaint, but that it can be difficult to figure out the identities of anonymous people on social media.
Johnstone said her family has struggled in the months since Ahenakew’s death. Her husband is so distraught that he hasn’t been able to work, she said.
She is also frustrated that her son’s death remains classified as suspicious rather than a homicide, and she feels RCMP aren’t doing enough to provide answers about how her son ended up dead in the burning vehicle.
RCMP received a call about a burning vehicle on the Ahtahkakoop First Nation early in the day on May 10, but the officer who initially went to the scene left without searching the vehicle.
The police force is conducting an internal investigation into how the officer failed to discover Ahenakew’s remains.
Given the circumstances of how the investigation started, Johnstone said she has little faith RCMP will provide justice for her family.
She said she has arranged for what’s left of her son’s vehicle, currently being held at an impound lot in Saskatoon, to be returned to the Ahtahkakoop First Nation later this month.
Johnstone said she plans to hire someone to do an investigation and offer insight into whether there is any evidence in the vehicle that can point to a culprit.
Johnstone says if anything good can come out of the recent online harassment, it’s that more attention might now be paid to her son’s case.
“The joke’s on this person, to whoever did this to us. The joke’s on them because you know what they just did? They just brought my son’s case right back to the top of the spotlight, right back to where everybody should be talking about it in this community,” she said.
“Now, now something is going to be done. Just watch.”