Death probe hindered by 60-hour delay
Police alerted of coroner’s concerns well after woman discovered at hotel
A police investigation into the death of a Regina woman was hampered by a 60-hour delay before officers learned of the “suspicious death.”
Staff Sgt. Kelly Trithart, one of the lead investigators examining the death of Nadine Machiskinic, said that delay was the “most frustrating” part of the case. “It was a major challenge,” said the Regina Police Service officer.
An inquest examining the death of the 29-year-old woman opened Monday in Regina. The three-woman, three-man jury heard a 911 call that came from the Delta Hotel at 4:11 a.m. on Jan. 10, 2015. A hotel employee reported that an unconscious woman was found in the basement at the bottom of a laundry chute. He also mentions someone had pulled a 10th floor fire alarm earlier, and he suspects it’s the same person.
The employee says she appears to be passed out from “some sort of drug.”
Two prescription pill bottles are seen near her body.
When the 911 operator sends the call over to the ambulance service, the employee again repeats that she’s “passed out.”
The recording also picks him up talking to others in the room, and, in a lower voice, saying, if she’d fallen down the chute, she’d be dead.
Paramedics attended to Machiskinic and rushed her to the hospital, where she was officially pronounced dead.
Trithart got a message on Jan. 12 to call the coroner because of concerns about the death. When the hospital pathologist checked on the body, he found signs of trauma, including fractured ribs, bruises to her chin and arms, and black circles under her eyes. At that point, the autopsy needed to be conducted by a forensic pathologist, and police contacted.
When the full autopsy was conducted on Jan. 15, the pathologist concluded Machiskinic died from blunt-force trauma, consistent with the fall down the laundry chute.
“They were devastating injuries,” said Trithart.
The inquest heard entry to the chute on the 10th floor is gained through an outdoor door to a small utility room. Although that outer door is supposed to lock, Trithart found the latch wasn’t working.
The actual chute has a metal door, some 53-centimetres wide, that lifts. In one photo, it’s about waist height from the floor, and the opening about shoulder width.
Trithart said police are normally contacted whenever there is something suspicious or peculiar about a death. But in this case, suspicions weren’t initially aroused by those attending to Machiskinic.
Despite the delay, “we felt we had to try to gather as much evidence as we can,” said Trithart.
However, he admitted those efforts were impeded. For example, officers couldn’t get usable DNA samples or find fingerprints from the laundry chute. In addition, hotel guests had moved on, so potential witnesses were gone. For example, two men seen getting into an elevator with someone — possibly Machiskinic — were never located.
Also, Machiskinic’s shoes, her blue purse and possibly a second cellphone were never located.
Trithart said police were told only one hotel guest stayed on the 10th floor that night. Although his room hadn’t yet been cleaned
I hope that we’ll get some truth. I hope that they’ll be some clarifications with the errors and the mistakes.
when forensic officers got involved, police didn’t find any DNA or fingerprints linking Machiskinic to the room.
Video from the hotel shows what appears to be a woman — only visible from the waist down — carrying a blue purse, get into the hotel elevator around 3:17 a.m. Around 3:45 a.m. the fire alarm on the 10th floor went off. When a security officer responded, the hotel room occupant said a woman had banged on his door, claiming there had been a fire. He subsequently told police he thought there were school-aged children behind the woman. Firefighters checked it out and left at 4:02 a.m.
Trithart testified that an aunt recalled getting four phone calls from Machiskinic’s phone number around 4 a.m. However, she never actually spoke to Machiskinic, and no messages were left.
In earlier testimony, the inquest also heard from Const. Keith Malcolm, a forensic officer, about another delay. Although most evidence samples went to the RCMP lab in February, samples for toxicology tests didn’t go out until July. He blamed “human error,” a miscommunication between himself and another officer, who had gone on holidays. When the mix-up was discovered, “we had a ‘good heavens’ moment,” he said. Police then discovered a similar problem had occurred in other files, prompting a review and changes.
Machiskinic’s aunt Delores Stevenson, who pressed for an inquest, told reporters during a break, “I hope that we’ll get some truth.
“I hope that they ’ll be some clarifications with the errors and the mistakes,” she said.
After seeing photos of the laundry chute, Stevenson said, “It’s kind of hard to look at — and to imagine.”
The inquest continues Tuesday.