Watchdog finds Mounties failed to properly investigate Indigenous woman's death — twice

More than two decades after her body was found at the side of a road, the RCMP has agreed to apologize to an Indigenous woman's family for failing to properly investigate her death.

The apology follows a probe by the Mounties' watchdog body — the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) — which pointed to gaps in two separate investigations into the woman's disappearance.

The CRCC, an independent agency that handles complaints about RCMP members' conduct, said the investigations were unreasonable and the officers' conclusion that there was no evidence of foul play was premature.

«Any death is tragic, but a death replete with unanswered questions is undoubtedly even more painful,» wrote CRCC chair Michelaine Lahaie in her final report, obtained by CBC News through an access to information report

«A more thorough investigation may have been able to answer some or most of these questions.»

The report is heavily redacted for privacy reasons — names, locations and even some dates are blacked out.

The report says the woman's family filed a complaint with the CRCC after testifying at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

Their concerns date back to 2001 when the body of their elderly relative — who had been reported missing to a non-RCMP police service — was discovered down an embankment at the side of a road near her abandoned truck.

The RCMP then took over the investigation.

Family members located items missed by police

After reviewing the family's concerns, both the CRCC and the RCMP agreed the 2001 investigation was fraught with shortcomings.

The CRCC report says that after the woman's body was found, the lead RCMP investigator concluded the case with a theory — that the