Canada_ (Commonwealth) _ On February 4, as the snow begins to fall, the large parking lot of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 517 in Petawawa, Ontario, which is situated amid the trees along the banks of a river, is starting to fill up.
Sommer Boudreau, an Indigenous mother of three who was killed, is being assisted in her transfer into the afterlife inside the main hall by family members, friends, and acquaintances from all across the Ottawa Valley. Ashley Ahokas, her youngest child, who is seven years old, weaves in and out of the visitors as she and other children play in circles all around the room. Tyee Boudreau, Sommer’s 19-year-old brother, bends down to assist on her boots and holds her tightly.
Tia Boudreau, their 18-year-old sister, moves more slowly, her eyes blurry. Sommer’s mother Carrie Boudreau, the great-grandmother of the twins, is sitting at the head table. She has managed to survive the deaths of two of her three children, which occurred more than ten years apart, and guests cautiously take turns expressing their condolences to her.
Ashley Boudreau, Sommer’s younger sister, was slain 13 years ago during a domestic argument with her lover, who later committed suicide. Ashley was 24 at the time. At Sommer’s memorial service, the immediate family is mostly focused on each other and their sadness because they were too distraught to talk at the time.
Soon, but not yet, they’re getting ready to tell their story. Police discovered Sommer Boudreau’s corpse on the evening of December 11 in Deep River, Ont., a tiny community with 4,000 residents in the Ottawa Valley, northwest of Ottawa. Officers were conducting a wellness check at a duplex owned by Adam Rossi at the time.
The 41-year-old was detained that evening and had never been in trouble with the law. He was accused of second-degree murder and tampering with human remains the next day, especially by chopping off a ligament.
