Raymond Cormier not guilty in death of Tina Fontaine

WINNIPEG – Raymond Cormier has been found not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Tina Fontaine.The jury gave its verdict at just after 5 p.m. central time Thursday to a packed courtroom that included Tina’s great-aunt Thelma Favel who entered the courtroom in tears.She later could be heard sobbing.Many Indigenous leaders were also there, including AMC Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, AFN Regional Chief Kevin Hart and MKO Grand Chief Sheila North.https://twitter.com/bhobs22/status/966813599388889088It draws an end to the three-week trial of Cormier, 56, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the slaying of the 15-year-old.Tina’s body, wrapped in a duvet cover and weighed down by rocks, was pulled from the Red River in Winnipeg several days after she disappeared in August 2014. The case reignited calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.Winnipeg police defended their work on the case in a statement released after the verdict.”The Winnipeg Police Service conducted an extensive investigation into the murder of Tina Fontaine,” the statement said. “Generally after a trial, the case, including the court proceedings themselves will be examined to determine if an appeal is possible or appropriate. While that process is ongoing, we have made the decision to not comment on this case directly.”Court heard Tina had a happy childhood raised by a great-aunt on the Sagkeeng First Nation, but the girl began to spiral downward when her father was murdered in October 2011. Tina’s mother, who had not been part of her life, re-emerged and Tina started going to Winnipeg to visit her. The girl ended up on the street and was being sexually exploited.Tina’s boyfriend Cody Mason, who was 18 at the time, testified the pair first met Cormier earlier in the summer of 2014 and told him they didn’t have a place to stay. Cormier, who court heard was a methamphetamine and crack user, took them to a house with a basement. Known to some as Sebastian and to others as Frenchy, Cormier supplied Tina with the prescription drug gabapentin, said Mason, who added he and Tina would also drink and take marijuana and cocaine.https://twitter.com/bhobs22/status/966818549598703616Tina told a social worker that Cormier was a much older man who was going to get her a bike. Cormier told friends he had had sex with the 15-year-old. One witness, Sarah Holland, testified she once saw Cormier grope Tina while asking her to “just do me.”The cause of Tina’s death was undetermined. Dr. Dennis Rhee testified that he found no definitive injuries on her body or to her internal organs. He said there was no evidence of a sexual assault, no signs of a stabbing or major blunt force trauma. It was estimated her body was in the river for three to seven days.There was no evidence that she drowned, but it couldn’t be ruled out. Christopher Keddy, who works at the RCMP forensics lab, testified that tests showed Tina’s body had a level of alcohol slightly above the legal limit for driving. Keddy also said there was a relatively high level of THC – the active ingredient in marijuana.There was no indication of gabapentin, but Keddy said the test the RCMP lab ran might not detect low levels of the drug. Under cross-examination, the defence suggested it couldn’t be ruled out that gabapentin was in Tina’s system at a potentially lethal level in combination with other drugs. There was no DNA evidence linking Cormier to Fontaine.Three people connected to Cormier told police he owned the same type of duvet cover that was wrapped around Tina’s body. DNA testing found no traces linking Cormier to the cover. Court heard police tried to find the source of the duvet cover. It was sold by Costco Canada and 864 had been shipped to the three Costco stores in Winnipeg.https://twitter.com/bhobs22/status/966821036200210433Police tracked down 100 people who had purchased covers with the same design to ask them whether they still had them. Under cross-examination, investigators acknowledged Costco had given away some of the unsold duvet covers, and police could not rule out whether similar ones had been purchased elsewhere and brought to Winnipeg.On Aug. 6, about two weeks before Tina’s body was found and three days before she was reported missing, witnesses saw her arguing with Cormier in the street and heard Cormier mention something about a river. Holland testified that she heard Tina tell Cormier she was going to call the cops.The Crown argued that Cormier was worried that Tina was going to report that he had stolen a truck. Court heard an audio recording of Tina calling 911 to report a stolen truck. Witnesses also testified that Tina was angry that Cormier had sold her bike for drugs. Cormier acknowledged the argument in an interview with police and said he followed her down the street before turning in the other direction.He said that is the last time he saw her. He also suggested the suspect police should really be looking for was a man who looked like singer Robert Plant who was walking in the same direction as Tina that night. “Don’t focus on me,” he told police.Ernie DeWolfe met Cormier in prison and they stayed at the same halfway house for a time. DeWolfe testified he talked to Cormier on Aug. 15 and Cormier said he had met with Tina the previous day to ensure she was not going to call the police.“He just said that he had talked to her and he straightened it all out and took care of it,” DeWolfe testified. “I just presumed that he talked to her and … sorted it out.”Tina’s body was found in the river on Aug. 17. In cross-examination, the defence suggested DeWolfe made the whole story up because he and Cormier had had an argument over money.Police launched a six-month undercover operation against Cormier called Project Styx. Cormier was placed in a bugged apartment for free and an undercover officer moved into a suite on the same floor.Cormier was recorded saying he’d bet the girl was killed because he found out she was only 15 years old.“I drew the line and that’s why she got killed,” he said.Cormier also told a woman that when he last talked to Tina, he told her to go jump off a bridge. At another point, he asked a woman if she had ever been “haunted by something” before he started to talk about Tina and boast that he beat two murders.During another recording, Cormier said during an argument with a woman that there was a little girl in a “grave someplace screaming at the top of her lungs for me to finish the job. And guess what? I finished the job.”Court also heard Cormier in a recording warning people in his apartment not to overdose or they would end up wrapped in a carpet and thrown in the river. In conversations with the undercover officer, Cormier said there were “three rules to crime: deny, deny deny.”Crown prosecutors contended that Cormier killed Tina, either by suffocation or drowning, because he found out she was only 15 and that would make him a pedophile. They said Cormier’s own words on the undercover tapes should be enough to convict him.The defence said that with no DNA evidence and no cause of death, there were too many holes in the case. It argued that Cormier felt guilt after learning that Tina was only 15 and he wanted to find the real killer.- with files form The Canadian Press 

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54 thoughts on “Raymond Cormier not guilty in death of Tina Fontaine

  1. willow says:

    So not enough evadance to put him away for murder, but he was druging a child to exploit her. That should be life in prison. what a horable man!

  2. So not enough evadance to put him away for murder, but he was druging a child to exploit her. That should be life in prison. what a horable man!

  3. Look . Most ppl still tryna point fingers in any direction they can . It’s the judges fault.no the juries . No it’s the people’s fault for shaping Canada’s justice system into the nightmare it has become and this poor girl lost her life , her family a loved one, and.now , and call it what you want but you , the people, were the ones who deemed Cormier not guilty , and even he lost the time spent incarcerated and all the negativity that has come his way and undoubtedly always will . Never the less what if he’s actually not guilty imagine how he feels. Drug addicted and homeless with no education and a dreadful reputation. If that’s not a reason to wakeup and wanna do good for the “people”, idk what is . End of day : everyone looses when a tragedy like this happens and nobody is held accountable. If anything Cormier still gets the poop end of the stick.tho (for all the unsatisfied verdict believers).. cause now he’s known as .. Well.. Yeah.. That’s “the guy”..

  4. Look . Most ppl still tryna point fingers in any direction they can . It’s the judges fault.no the juries . No it’s the people’s fault for shaping Canada’s justice system into the nightmare it has become and this poor girl lost her life , her family a loved one, and.now , and call it what you want but you , the people, were the ones who deemed Cormier not guilty , and even he lost the time spent incarcerated and all the negativity that has come his way and undoubtedly always will . Never the less what if he’s actually not guilty imagine how he feels. Drug addicted and homeless with no education and a dreadful reputation. If that’s not a reason to wakeup and wanna do good for the “people”, idk what is . End of day : everyone looses when a tragedy like this happens and nobody is held accountable. If anything Cormier still gets the poop end of the stick.tho (for all the unsatisfied verdict believers).. cause now he’s known as .. Well.. Yeah.. That’s “the guy”..

  5. Let’s not allow this latest victim to just get brushed under the carpet of the justice system.This absolute miscarriage of justice needs to be kept in the system until the murderer is brought to justice. Make it a national outrage, force the legal eagles to pay attention!

  6. leave the guy be he was found not guilty doesnt matter if hes white he was found not so let him be

  7. There are systemic problems within the whole governance of our country. We need to step up and address the REAL issues and stop tolerating what the government and all of the white privilege have put in place to keep an oppressed people marginalized and controlled. Do we place these values on other cultures in Canada? Maybe we need an Act and Regulations that control every culture in our province/country. The Indian Act needs to be abolished; Indigenous peoples don’t need special treatment…they have never asked for this treatment. Indigenous peoples have just wanted to share; they have shared with the settlers a whole country and in return our actions continue to decimate these peoples. You can’t just throw money at Indigenous peoples and hope that the problem will go away. It’s similar to giving a starving man a bit of food…he will gobble up the food…but it doesn’t change the fact that he is still starving. This is the same for Indigenous peoples this culture and these peoples deserve more than what we have done to date. Generational damages have destroyed their families as there are many harms that have affected them mentally and physically. No hope of help creates addiction problems to numb the pain. With all the harms that have been done to Indigenous peoples, many blame them from their problems the government and systems have created. THESE PEOPLE ARE VICTIMS…and they have been victimized over and over and over. The only way there will be change is when we treat indigenous peoples as equals and as brothers and sisters. Governments need to ensure that indigenous peoples hold a percentage of seats within our governing body….not as the support staff but as the REAL LEADERS working within the cabinets of government and ensuring that they have the voice within our governments. Self government does not work, it only separates indigenous peoples more from society. I am sickened how these peoples issues are thrown back and forth from provincial governance to federal governance based on jurisdiction. These are real issues both governments need to be embracing. From the outcomes of the Boushie and Fontaine verdicts, we really need to face the REAL truth and reconciliation…and its not the fake truths many white privileged people understand; it is the REAL TRUTHS of what is occurring in our country right now. Lets show some compassion and open our minds and our hearts to fully understand what is occurring in our country. Lets all get behind our indigenous brothers and sisters and make positive change for our future generations…standing back and doing nothing is no different than watching someone murder someone and not intervening…SPEAK OUT TO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN!

  8. Unbelievable!!!! Admits to killing her on the tapes but gets a verdict in his favor!!! Now the funny thing is if this man Cormier ends up dead and they find his killer and lets just say they are native american i guarantee you the killer of this guy will be thrown behind bars with less evidence! Native americans were the first to find OUR land but yet they are treated with disrespect and in this case means absolutely nothing! Hope the courts feel good about sending a shockwave throw the city and the native american community. As an african american male this makes me fuckin sick!!!! I got one word for this guy cormier if he on the streets son peg……….Run Homie………Run!!!!

  9. Let’s not allow this latest victim to just get brushed under the carpet of the justice system.This absolute miscarriage of justice needs to be kept in the system until the murderer is brought to justice. Make it a national outrage, force the legal eagles to pay attention!

  10. Brutal and disgusting. Once again Canada’s justice system fails the most vulnerable. If its not already obvious, the system did not come into being to dispense some quaint and abstract notion of justice, but to reproduce structures of power elsewhere in society. And Absolutely shameful. My deepest sympathies and condolences to the family of this poor girl.

  11. leave the guy be he was found not guilty doesnt matter if hes white he was found not so let him be

  12. 2 months ago Millard and Smich were found guilty of murdering Laura Babcock under the same level of evidence as that which allowed Cormier to walk. And what is the difference then in the 2 cases? Oh ya, the victims race. Tina was Indigenous and Laura not.

  13. There are systemic problems within the whole governance of our country. We need to step up and address the REAL issues and stop tolerating what the government and all of the white privilege have put in place to keep an oppressed people marginalized and controlled. Do we place these values on other cultures in Canada? Maybe we need an Act and Regulations that control every culture in our province/country. The Indian Act needs to be abolished; Indigenous peoples don’t need special treatment…they have never asked for this treatment. Indigenous peoples have just wanted to share; they have shared with the settlers a whole country and in return our actions continue to decimate these peoples. You can’t just throw money at Indigenous peoples and hope that the problem will go away. It’s similar to giving a starving man a bit of food…he will gobble up the food…but it doesn’t change the fact that he is still starving. This is the same for Indigenous peoples this culture and these peoples deserve more than what we have done to date. Generational damages have destroyed their families as there are many harms that have affected them mentally and physically. No hope of help creates addiction problems to numb the pain. With all the harms that have been done to Indigenous peoples, many blame them from their problems the government and systems have created. THESE PEOPLE ARE VICTIMS…and they have been victimized over and over and over. The only way there will be change is when we treat indigenous peoples as equals and as brothers and sisters. Governments need to ensure that indigenous peoples hold a percentage of seats within our governing body….not as the support staff but as the REAL LEADERS working within the cabinets of government and ensuring that they have the voice within our governments. Self government does not work, it only separates indigenous peoples more from society. I am sickened how these peoples issues are thrown back and forth from provincial governance to federal governance based on jurisdiction. These are real issues both governments need to be embracing. From the outcomes of the Boushie and Fontaine verdicts, we really need to face the REAL truth and reconciliation…and its not the fake truths many white privileged people understand; it is the REAL TRUTHS of what is occurring in our country right now. Lets show some compassion and open our minds and our hearts to fully understand what is occurring in our country. Lets all get behind our indigenous brothers and sisters and make positive change for our future generations…standing back and doing nothing is no different than watching someone murder someone and not intervening…SPEAK OUT TO MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN!

  14. Unbelievable!!!! Admits to killing her on the tapes but gets a verdict in his favor!!! Now the funny thing is if this man Cormier ends up dead and they find his killer and lets just say they are native american i guarantee you the killer of this guy will be thrown behind bars with less evidence! Native americans were the first to find OUR land but yet they are treated with disrespect and in this case means absolutely nothing! Hope the courts feel good about sending a shockwave throw the city and the native american community. As an african american male this makes me fuckin sick!!!! I got one word for this guy cormier if he on the streets son peg……….Run Homie………Run!!!!

  15. Brutal and disgusting. Once again Canada’s justice system fails the most vulnerable. If its not already obvious, the system did not come into being to dispense some quaint and abstract notion of justice, but to reproduce structures of power elsewhere in society. And Absolutely shameful. My deepest sympathies and condolences to the family of this poor girl.

  16. 2 months ago Millard and Smich were found guilty of murdering Laura Babcock under the same level of evidence as that which allowed Cormier to walk. And what is the difference then in the 2 cases? Oh ya, the victims race. Tina was Indigenous and Laura not.

  17. Too many holes in the case?? He pretty much said that he killed a woman and threw her in the river. It was the same way Tina was found… SMH, where is the justice when the accused confessed to a murder?!?!

  18. what a disgusting pig..he even admitted it and still got off..hope he has nightmares
    the rest of his life and relives what he did every day.but he is probably a drug addict who is totally mental who will keep the walking the streets.with no feelings of remorse…also hope the people on the jury feel guilty letting this animal go free..they must have daughters, nieces ect..that they wouldn’t want this to happen to….what a nightmare…

  19. OMG

    He admitted to murder and they still didn’t convict him, not safe for First Nation People in Canada!!!

  20. As a Canadian I’m not angry I’m just very disappointed and ashamed. If Cormier isn’t guilty – when will the actual killer be found,
    Not good enough-not even close to it.

  21. A crying shame a 15 year old gets tied up with a meth addicted scumbag like this. Nobody had her back. No solid evidence turned him loose. Some times you have to wait to get justice if not in this life in the next he will face a righteous Judge. My sincere condolences to all who knew her

  22. This guy sounds like a real piece of work who got away with doing some bad stuff again. If there is such a thing as karma, then I suspect his day is coming.

  23. Too many holes in the case?? He pretty much said that he killed a woman and threw her in the river. It was the same way Tina was found… SMH, where is the justice when the accused confessed to a murder?!?!

  24. This is so not acceptable. When he admitted to doing it. What is wrong with this picture. Always the same here in Canada. Us Native people do not matter . Only the white and he is walking free. Karma is a bitch

  25. WTF no DNA evidence and no cause of death so he gets to go home When he’s admitted the crime on RCMP Project Styx recordings all he said He killed her that simple But again there is no justice for Indigenous in Canada Hang your heads in shame Canada

  26. i find this bullshit since he keeps talking about the river isnt that a hint duhh thats so stupid asf he should be life in prison fuck him
    aboriginal first nations thought ….

  27. Such a sad forsaken society this Is
    Sorry for the loss of this child
    God save your souls and damb the one who have hurt them crimes against the missing murderd girls boys disadvantaged people will never end if these kind of crimes get No punishment NO Justice Shame on the courts shame on us all this is not RIGHT !

  28. This verdict is unbelievable, people have been convicted on far less. I’m pissed off, even leaving any kind of racism out of this for all the idiots who will crawl out of the wood work, this is not justice. Imagine your 15 year old daughter or sister being exploited like this. She was a child, given drugs and at the very least killed in this way. Disgusting is all I can say, the injustice system at its finest. I hope Winnipeggers can shake off our apathy and protest. Btw I’m not overly liberal, and I’m also white, this is just wrong.

  29. Tina Fontaine’s death is tragic. Her exploitation and the failure of social systems to assist her is unacceptable. I hope that we can figure out a way to stop the exploitation and abuse of indigenous women and girls.

    I hope that Canada develops a justice system that provides justice to all Canadians including indigenous people.

    I am ashamed of how Canada treats indigenous Canadians. I hope we do better.

    1. Not true. How about the Asian guy who sawed off the grey hound bus rider’s head he is now being released into the community. Lets not forget about the white Merritt Maniac that killed his 3 children. He now gets to go out into the community for coffee. I could mention more. Its the system that seems to care more about the criminal than it does the victims.

  30. WHAT THE HELL ~ Despondent our people are not WE HAVE TO GET THIS SYSTEM TO CHANCE ~ OUR BEAUTIFUL YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULDNT BE DYING IN VAIN ~~ they deserve so much better – we all have a right to Safety & Justice 🙁 🙁

  31. what a disgusting pig..he even admitted it and still got off..hope he has nightmares
    the rest of his life and relives what he did every day.but he is probably a drug addict who is totally mental who will keep the walking the streets.with no feelings of remorse…also hope the people on the jury feel guilty letting this animal go free..they must have daughters, nieces ect..that they wouldn’t want this to happen to….what a nightmare…

  32. What a bunch of BS!! This guy just got away with murder!! When are prosecutors and the police going to wake up and start treating cases involving Indigenous people seriously in this country… They deserve much better treatment then they are presently getting from Canada!! So disappointed

    1. I am curious about whether there were any First Nations people selected to be on the jury , or if they were challanged by the defense . I am from Sask. and have inquired from as many sources as I can think of , including a long distance call to FSIN , but no-one here seems to know.

  33. OMG

    He admitted to murder and they still didn’t convict him, not safe for First Nation People in Canada!!!

  34. As a Canadian I’m not angry I’m just very disappointed and ashamed. If Cormier isn’t guilty – when will the actual killer be found,
    Not good enough-not even close to it.

  35. A crying shame a 15 year old gets tied up with a meth addicted scumbag like this. Nobody had her back. No solid evidence turned him loose. Some times you have to wait to get justice if not in this life in the next he will face a righteous Judge. My sincere condolences to all who knew her

  36. This guy sounds like a real piece of work who got away with doing some bad stuff again. If there is such a thing as karma, then I suspect his day is coming.

  37. This is so not acceptable. When he admitted to doing it. What is wrong with this picture. Always the same here in Canada. Us Native people do not matter . Only the white and he is walking free. Karma is a bitch

  38. WTF no DNA evidence and no cause of death so he gets to go home When he’s admitted the crime on RCMP Project Styx recordings all he said He killed her that simple But again there is no justice for Indigenous in Canada Hang your heads in shame Canada

  39. i find this bullshit since he keeps talking about the river isnt that a hint duhh thats so stupid asf he should be life in prison fuck him
    aboriginal first nations thought ….

  40. Such a sad forsaken society this Is
    Sorry for the loss of this child
    God save your souls and damb the one who have hurt them crimes against the missing murderd girls boys disadvantaged people will never end if these kind of crimes get No punishment NO Justice Shame on the courts shame on us all this is not RIGHT !

  41. This verdict is unbelievable, people have been convicted on far less. I’m pissed off, even leaving any kind of racism out of this for all the idiots who will crawl out of the wood work, this is not justice. Imagine your 15 year old daughter or sister being exploited like this. She was a child, given drugs and at the very least killed in this way. Disgusting is all I can say, the injustice system at its finest. I hope Winnipeggers can shake off our apathy and protest. Btw I’m not overly liberal, and I’m also white, this is just wrong.

  42. Tina Fontaine’s death is tragic. Her exploitation and the failure of social systems to assist her is unacceptable. I hope that we can figure out a way to stop the exploitation and abuse of indigenous women and girls.

    I hope that Canada develops a justice system that provides justice to all Canadians including indigenous people.

    I am ashamed of how Canada treats indigenous Canadians. I hope we do better.

  43. of course! If he were Native, Chinese, ,Black, he would have been convicted and sentenced no problem

    1. Not true. How about the Asian guy who sawed off the grey hound bus rider’s head he is now being released into the community. Lets not forget about the white Merritt Maniac that killed his 3 children. He now gets to go out into the community for coffee. I could mention more. Its the system that seems to care more about the criminal than it does the victims.

      1. so true, not right what happen here, but too many holes in the evidence. its wrong but nothing can do.

  44. WHAT THE HELL ~ Despondent our people are not WE HAVE TO GET THIS SYSTEM TO CHANCE ~ OUR BEAUTIFUL YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULDNT BE DYING IN VAIN ~~ they deserve so much better – we all have a right to Safety & Justice 🙁 🙁

  45. What a bunch of BS!! This guy just got away with murder!! When are prosecutors and the police going to wake up and start treating cases involving Indigenous people seriously in this country… They deserve much better treatment then they are presently getting from Canada!! So disappointed

    1. I am curious about whether there were any First Nations people selected to be on the jury , or if they were challanged by the defense . I am from Sask. and have inquired from as many sources as I can think of , including a long distance call to FSIN , but no-one here seems to know.

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