Could tragedy have been avoided?
Woman’s family questions what happened in N.S. town before veteran with PTSD killed her and himself
Jennifer Lynne Semenec died far from her home in North Bay, Ont., at the hands of a veteran with PTSD who had said he wouldn’t be “another soldier who falls through the cracks” of treatment.
As Semenec’s children and sister prepare for her April 22 funeral, they are recalling her life — and wondering if former master corporal Marc J. Poulin’s descent into tragedy might have been avoided.
Word of the couple’s deaths came with a phone call from an RCMP detective who’d been at the scene in Springhill, N.S., when the bodies were found on March 20.
The officer told Jessica Ridley that her 45-year-old sister was the victim of “blunt force trauma to the head” and that Poulin, 42, had taken his own life after a fire was set in the small white house they were renovating.
The couple, who had been together for about 15 months, had moved east to renovate a home and begin a new life together. Amidst her grief, Ridley finds herself wondering what happened in the small Nova Scotia town three weeks ago, and concludes no definitive answer is possible.
“He might have been having flashbacks . ... The only two people who know what happened are not here,” Ridley said in an interview from her home in Sudbury, Ont. “I’m just trying to keep an open mind.”
Semenec’s daughter, 18-yearold Alia Woodward, lived with the couple for almost a year after Poulin started dating her mother in December 2016 and then moved into their North Bay home in early spring.
She describes Semenec as a personal care worker for seniors who was also “a neighbourhood mom,” eager to be involved with both her friends and those of her 24-year-old brother, Zachary Semenec, who also lived at home.
Her shock at Semenec’s death stems in part from having witnessed what appeared to be a strong bond between her mother and her new partner.
“In my mind, maybe he had issues, but the thing she liked about him was how much of a gentleman he was. He opened the door for her all the time and shut it as she got into the truck. He was kind to her,” she said in a telephone interview.
When her mother had a hysterectomy in February of last year, she said the heavyset veteran had flopped down on the floor each night next to a couch where she was recovering, ready to offer help.
Still, both Woodward and Zachary Semenec also have strong recollections of Poulin on the telephone — sometimes multiple times a week — expressing frustrations as he attempted to get help from Veterans Affairs for his illnesses.
Both of Semenec’s children recall he attended therapy sessions with their mother. At times he became withdrawn, and “put up walls,” said Woodward.
In August, the veteran tried to take his own life, overdosing on his PTSD medications and spending several days in hospital.
A note Poulin wrote afterwards describes his desire to turn around his life and to care for his family members. It is critical of the Veterans Affairs programs, with Poulin saying he’d recover despite alleged shortcomings in PTSD care.
“(I) am just happy that I am not just going to be another soldier that falls through the cracks of the (expletive) support system they have for vets,” says the excerpt.