(Deidre Patayash, 29, was found dead Tuesday in Sioux Lookout, Ont. Facebook photo)
By Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
A family in the northern Ontario First Nation of Weagamow is in mourning after a mother from the community was found dead Tuesday in a Sioux Lookout, Ont., hotel room under suspicious circumstances.
Deidre Patayash, 29, was found dead at 6:30 a.m. inside a room at the Forest Inn by paramedics and OPP officers after a call from the hotel.
The statement said the OPP was continuing to investigate Patayash’s death. Patayash’s body has been sent to Toronto where it will undergo a postmortem examination on Thursday, police said. The OPP released no other details about the circumstances of the death.
Patayash was a mother of two boys, one aged 13, and another aged 5. She was in Sioux Lookout for a custody hearing involving her five year-old son, who lives in Slate Falls, scheduled for Tuesday morning, said Weagamow Chief Dinah Kanate.
Kanate said Patayash will be buried in Weagamow at the request of her oldest son.
“He wants to bring his mom home and bury her here,” said Kanate.
Kanate was the one who told Patayash’ mother, who lives in the community, that her daughter was dead.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Kanate. “It is hard.”
Kanate said Patayash had been living in Cat Lake First Nation with Alvin Ash for the past two or three months.
Ash, 32, was arrested and charged with assault in connection with the investigation into the death, the OPP said in the statement. It was unclear from the statement who Ash allegedly assaulted and an OPP spokesperson would provide no additional details.
Ash is scheduled to appear in Sioux Lookout provincial court on Friday. Ash says on his Facebook page he has two daughters.
@JorgeBarrera
