Investigation into death not up to ‘professional’ par

Regina police chief disputes RCMP take on handling of fatal 2015 plunge at hotel

REGINA Regina’s police Chief Evan Bray stands by the investigation into the death of a Regina woman at a downtown hotel despite an RCMP report that found a number of problems and gaps — from poor internal communication to delays in questioning witnesses and the timely collection of evidence.

“I remain confident that, despite the acknowledged delays in this case, it was thoroughly investigated,” Bray said in a statement released Thursday. “Our investigation showed no evidence that someone was criminally responsible for the death of Ms. Nadine Machiskinic. None of the recommendations in this review would have changed the outcome of our investigation.”

Machiskinic, 29, died in hospital after she was found unconscious on the laundry room floor of the Delta Hotel in January 2015. A coroner’s inquest later determined she had plunged 10 storeys down the laundry chute. What remains unresolved is how or why she got into the chute.

Bray’s statement and a redacted version of the RCMP report was made public late Thursday afternoon in response to an access to information request filed by Postmedia News in February.

In November, Bray said the report and its recommendations would not be released to the family or made public, saying it included sensitive case-management techniques that could jeopardize future investigations and contained nothing that wasn’t already known from a coroner’s inquest. Machiskinic’s aunt Delores Stevenson and other supporters went to the Saskatchewan Legislative Building to press their demands to see the report and its recommendations — but to no avail.

According to the statement, the Regina Police Service (RPS) felt it would be “fair and equitable” to make the entire review public, but first obtained permission from the RCMP, which was also expected to soon release portions of the report in response to a separate Leader-post request.

Police also met with the Machiskinic’s family to provide the same, redacted copy of the review, and to advise them it would be made public.

Bray’s statement reiterated that the voluntary request to the RCMP was not for a re-investigation of the death, but a review of the investigation itself in a bid to develop “best practices for future death investigations.” The result was 14 recommendations.

According to a letter, also received as part of the access request, the RPS stated in its request to the RCMP that, “Despite these file reviews and our best efforts, we have not been able to alleviate the concerns of Ms. Machiskinic’s family regarding the comprehensiveness and thoroughness of our investigation; it is their belief Nadine was murdered and that the Regina Police Service’s investigation into her death was insufficient.”

The RCMP’S report was sent to police in March last year.

The review considered best practices and universally accepted principles of major case management — and found the RPS came up short. “The reviewers do not support the sudden death investigation of Nadine Machiskinic as meeting the standards of a professional sudden death investigation,” says the 22-page report. “Accountability mechanisms were also deemed to be lacking and seen as detrimental to the investigation,” adds the report.

However, it also adds that despite such findings, the investigation demonstrated best practices in some aspects, despite significant challenges posed by the delay in police being notified.

When hotel staff found Machiskinic on Jan. 10, 2015, paramedics initially suspected a drug overdose. After her death in hospital and an autopsy that revealed numerous fractures, police were called in but some 60 hours had already passed. In the interim, potential evidence, including Machiskinic’s purse and shoes, had disappeared, areas such as the laundry room hadn’t been immediately secured, and some potential witnesses, including two men who rode with her in the elevator, were never found.

Near the end of the report, it acknowledges the skill and dedication of the investigators, and that “hindsight tends to provide a level of clarity” not afforded at the time.