'Every time we close our eyes she's there': Autumn Prince's body found by sister, mother blocks from home

A Winnipeg mother who went searching for her missing daughter and found her body in the snow just blocks from home can't understand how no onesaw or helped her,even after she died.

Autumn Prince, 18,was found curled in the fetal position Tuesday morning three days after she'd last been seen in ayard on Ross Avenue in central Winnipeg.

Her body, dressed in justa purple tank top, black tights and no shoes,wasbetween the chain link fence and a house. The yard was a short walk from her home onBannatyneAvenue.

"I can't see how people all day Monday did not see my daughter there. Someonecould havehelped my daughter, someonecould havejust looked out their window.Someonecould havedone that for my kid, and they didn't," Prince's mother,Gardina, saidthrough tears.

"It took us 10 minutes to find her. It took me and her sister and her boyfriend to find her, and it's traumatized us.

"Every time we close our eyes she's there, that last image of her, the way we found her is there."

Gardina saw Prince on Saturday night when the young womancame home briefly to bathe, eat, then head out again with friends, as she often did.

It'sgoing tohaunt me for the rest of my life. That image is always going to be there [and] it's hard not to blame myself.- GardinaPrince

"She said, 'Good night.I love you.' And then Sunday happened," said Gardina, who waschanging her baby when Prince's boyfriend banged on the apartment door that evening between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., covered in blood and intoxicated.

He said he'd been jumped at a house party he and Princewere at on Ross Avenue earlier that evening.

"And I'm like, 'Well where's Autumn?' And he's like, 'I don't know. She left,'" Gardina said. "He said he was chasing her to bring her homebut she never came home. She didn't follow him.

"We're known in my family to be very stubborn at times."

Gardina called and messaged everyone she could think of in her daughter's circle of friends. No one had seen or heard from Prince.

There was still no word about her when Monday rolled around.

Prince was extremely popular and active on social mediabut all of her accounts had gone silent, said Gardina, whowanted to go out searchingbut couldn't leave her two toddlers unattended.

She posted a Facebook notice on Monday about her missing daughter, then called police that sameevening to report her missing.

"If Autumn's still partying she'll come home," Gardina told herself and her family. "I said, 'She probably went to go smoke a joint with someone, or went to go smoke some weed.' I figured she was going to come home. She never came home."

Knowing her daughter wouldn't have likelygone far, Gardina called the police several times Monday night, asking them to check the Main Street Project, hospitals, back lanes and behind dumpsters.

"Shebarely ever went off Ross Avenue, so it was very, very weird for her not to be around," Gardina said.

When Tuesday came and Prince still wasn't found, Gardina and her 17-year-old daughter bundled up and set out on foot with Prince's boyfriend just after 9 a.m.

Theyplannedto put up posters and search every street, alleyway, dumpster and bush in the area.

"We stopped at the place where the house party was, and they didn't let us in," Gardina said.

They walked towardRossbrook House, on the corner of Ross and Sherbrook Street, which is a youth drop-in centre where teens can spend the night. Along the way, they found Prince's body beside a house just seven houses from the centre.

It was 9:20 a.m.

"My 17-year-old spotted her, and she started screaminghysterically," Gardinasaid, adding about Prince, "I knew she was gone. You could tell right away.

"I jumped the fence to be with her. She was really cold when I touched her. I just told her, 'I love you, and I wished you came home.'"

Princestruggled with addictions, saidGardina, whohopes that didn't stop someone from checking on her if they saw her.

Gardinahad struggles of her own a decadeago andfor many years, her cousin raised Prince on Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.Two years ago, after Gardinahad gotten clean, Princedecided to go live with her in Winnipeg.

Gardina said her daughter enjoyed cooking for the familyand had become close with her two younger brotherswho adored her.

Prince'slife and spirit were celebrated at a vigil Wednesday night near where she was found. Dozens gathered to lay flowers and stuffed animals at a makeshift shrine bearing her photos.

"Autumn was a very nice person. That kid was nice didn't seem to judge people. Autumn made friends easily," Gardina said.

She plans to eventually start a neighbourhood watch group, like the Bear Clan, in the area. A relative started a GoFundMecampaign to raise money for Prince's funeral, and Gardina'smother and partner are helping her care for the younger children.

For now, everyone's waiting on the results of an autopsy for closure about Prince's cause of death.

"It'sgoinghaunt me for the rest of my life. That image is always going to be there, [and] it's hard not to blame myself,"Gardinasaid.

"I always think, 'Oh, I should've gone out Monday looking for her.' But she could've been there Sunday, who knows when she went there.

"It's just a sad way for her to lose her life. She didn't even get a chance to live a life."