THUNDER BAY – The former girlfriend of Jordan Wabasse said she doesn’t know why the 15-year-old would have been in the area of the James Street Swing Bridge on the night he was last seen.
Myda O’Keese testified Friday morning at the Thunder Bay Courthouse during the coroner’s inquest into the death of the teenager from Webequie First Nation, one of seven students from remote First Nations communities to die between 2000 and 2011 while attending high school in Thunder Bay.
Wabasse was last seen on Feb. 7, 2011 around 10 p.m. exiting a city transit bus on Mary Street at Holt Place. He did not return to his boarding home that night, sparking a three-month search involving hundreds of volunteers and multiple law enforcement agencies that ended when his body was found in the Kaministiquia River near the bridge that connects the city to the Fort William First Nation.
He arrived in the city in the fall of 2010 to attend courses through the Matawa Learning Centre, the only of the seven students to not attend Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.
O’Keese, who is from Fort Hope, had previously met Wabasse during a visit to Webequie a year or two earlier and began dating in November 2010. She was in the city attending Hammarskjold High School while living with her aunt.
The two would see each other almost every day after school, with him frequently visiting her aunt’s house and she a spectator at many of his hockey games, where he played as goalie for the Current River Comets and with a men’s league at the Fort William First Nation Arena.
While being questioned by coroner’s counsel, O’Keese admitted she was concerned about his drinking and was urging him to stop.
On at least one occasion she had seen him severely intoxicated to the point of having difficulty walking.
The inquest had previously heard Wabasse was arrested by police for public intoxication at some point in the fall of 2010.
O’Keese returned to Fort Hope in January when her aunt moved back to the community. She said she did not receive any government funding to come to Thunder Bay for school.
Both she and Wabasse were sad about her having to leave but they made plans for him to visit Fort Hope during March break.
But that trip would never happen.
Wabasse was with a group of friends that were drinking in the Intercity area. Some of them got on board a city bus at city hall, which they assumed Wabasse was taking to get to his boarding home.
One of those friends testified the Westfort stop at Mary Street and Holt Place would be the right one for him to get to his boarding home. On the bus she took a video of Wabasse talking about how much he missed O’Keese.
Earlier in the evening Wabasse had told O’Keese he would be home around 11 p.m. and asked that she call him. She called both the landline in the boarding home and Wabasse’s cell phone but did not get an answer.
His boarding home parent testified earlier this week she stayed awake until 2 a.m. waiting for Wabasse to come home. She fell asleep and woke up at 8 a.m. and he still wasn’t home.
His mother, Bernice Jacob, testified on Monday and said she was notified the next morning by the boarding parent that her son did not come home.
Jacob said she wrestled with the decision to allow her son to come to Thunder Bay, but ultimately decided to let him go because of the educational opportunity and his excitement at getting to play in a hockey league. There was only an outdoor rink in Webequie, though the community would organize a team to travel to other communities for occasional tournaments.
After being notified about Wabasse’s disappearance, the family came to Thunder Bay and stayed all of February. She briefly returned home to acknowledge a walk from Webequie to Pickle Lake to raise awareness about her son’s disappearance.
O’Keese returned to Thunder Bay to help with the search and helped find his hat in the river nearly a week after his disappearance.
Jacob had returned home to Webequie in early May but arrived back in the city on May 10 and was met at the airport by a group telling
her a body had been found in the river. They went straight to the area and met with police, but did not know if it was the body of her son.
She returned to her hotel and got a phone call from the coroner, informing her they found Wabasse.
The family had asked to see the body but were told it was better to remember him the way they had last seen him, despite their desire for closure.
The inquest continues on Monday.
