Raymond Cormier, man acquitted in death of Manitoba teen, found dead, says her great-aunt

UPDATE: Ottawa police said on April 26, 2024, thatRaymond Cormier died in Ottawa.

The man acquitted in a trial on charges of murder in the death of teenager Tina Fontaine has died, her great-aunt told CBC News on Monday.

Homicide detectives told Thelma Favel, who raised Fontaine for a period of her life, about the death of Raymond Cormier on Friday, she said.

"He took the truth with him," she said in a phone interview from her home in Powerview-Pine Falls, Man., approximately 100 km north of Winnipeg.

As reported by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Cormier's body was found in Kenora, Ont.

CBC News has contacted Ontario Provincial Police in Kenora to confirm, but did not immediately receive a response. CBC News has confirmed Cormier's death with a source.

Favel says she was "very disappointed that he died."

"I know he, he did it I just have that feeling in me that he was the one responsible for Tina's death."

Tina Michelle Fontaine, from Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, was 15 years old when she died.

She went missing in July 2014 and her body was found wrapped in plastic and a duvet cover in Winnipeg's Red River on Aug. 17, 2014.

The Winnipeg Police Service charged Raymond Cormier, then aged 53, with second-degree murder.

On Feb. 22, 2018, a jury acquitted Cormier. A month after the trial ended, Crown prosecutors decided they would not appeal the case.

Favel says she remains convinced of Cormier's guilt, nearly 10 years after her niece's death.

About two years ago, she says she received a letter from a relative of Cormier, claiming he confessed to Fontaine's murder.

"I started to read it, but then I realized who it was from and I quit reading it," Favel said, adding she gave the letter to the RCMP.

"My skin just crawls. Like I know she's got nothing to do with it and she was trying to tell me that she knew it was him, but just the idea of having someone from his family contacting me. I don't know how she got my address."

Fontaine's death drew attention from across Canada and fuelled calls for thenational inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Nearly 100 people including police officers who worked on the case, politicians, reporters and Indigenous leaders had packedthe courtroom to hear the verdict,many supporters of the girl's family bursting into tears and crying out upon hearing the jury found Cormier not guilty.

"When she was murdered, everything just exploded," Favel said.

"Because there were so many missing and murdered women, but nobody really paid attention. I don't know why it had to take too much death to get that going."

Man acquitted in death of Manitoba teen, found dead

5 months ago

Duration 2:27

The man who was accused, then acquitted, in the death of Tina Fontaine has died. Raymond Cormierwas charged with second-degree murder, but a jury acquitted him in 2018.