Teresa Robinson is shown in a photo from the Garden Hill First Nation Facebook page.The Canadian Press
The RCMP have made an arrest in last year's killing of an 11-year-old Garden Hill First Nation girl – a gruesome case that rocked the child's remote Manitoba community and garnered national attention after her partial remains were found in a wooded area.
The federal police force said Thursday a man is in custody after he was arrested in connection with the May, 2015, death of Teresa Cassandra Robinson, a girl with a contagious smile who was the youngest of six children.
"While we understand that this arrest will generate a lot of questions, we are not in a position to provide further information at this time, as there are a number of investigative steps currently being taken," RCMP spokesman Sergeant Bert Paquet said in a statement. The Manitoba RCMP are expected to provide additional details Friday.
The development in the case came just as residents celebrated their annual winter carnival, the news reverberating through a community that came together almost a year ago in a massive search effort – first to find the missing girl; then, in a grim turn, to locate whatever was left of her body. Local residents and indigenous leaders reiterated their condolences Thursday to the Robinson family and said they are optimistic the arrest will help bring relief.
"There's going to be more healing that is going to have to happen but, hopefully, the process of closure can be initiated as well," said Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. "These are definitely difficult times we're living in … We have to do our best to protect our young ones in our communities."
Teresa's killing came almost exactly one year after the RCMP released an unprecedented report that found 1,181 indigenous women and girls were killed or went missing in Canada between 1980 and 2012. The report and several high-profile attacks on indigenous women, including an assault that nearly killed a Garden Hill-born woman in Winnipeg in the fall of 2014, reignited calls for a national inquiry into the violence. The federal Liberal government has said an inquiry will be under way by the summer.
Teresa's parents, Sandra and John George Robinson, were said to have been in a state of shock at the arrest. Councillor Russell Harper, a relative of Ms. Robinson's, said the woman was quiet when she was briefed by the RCMP at the band office but later broke down in tears. Mark Barkman, the former fire chief who co-ordinated the search effort, said he shared a silent embrace with Mr. Robinson outside the band office, where the carnival was taking place.
"It's sad, in a way," Mr. Barkman said. "It reminds us of what happened last year. But I'm happy, too, that this maybe can bring some closure for the family."
Teresa, who was last seen on the evening of May 5 leaving a birthday party near her home, was initially thought to have been mauled by an animal. The RCMP were first notified on May 11 that Teresa was missing from the fly-in community, located about 500 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
Mr. Robinson thought his daughter had gone to stay at a friend's or a relative's, as children often do in the community. After Mr. Robinson called Teresa's school on May 8 and learned she had not attended for a few days, a volunteer search was launched and announcements were made on the Garden Hill radio station.
Sandra and Van Del Harper discovered the girl's partial remains in a wooded area, not far from the birthday party, in the opposite direction of the Robinson home. The spot was soon staked with a white cross adorned with rosaries. Reached Thursday, Mr. Harper said he welcomed the arrest and at the same time said it has stirred up sad memories. He said he noticed an increased RCMP presence in the community Thursday, but thought it was part of an investigative effort to gather DNA.
Last month, Sgt. Paquet confirmed that police had taken the rare step of collecting genetic samples from men in Garden Hill. "The magnitude of the task in this specific case is certainly unusual," he said at the time. Sgt. Paquet would not disclose how many men had volunteered samples, but said that based on the targeted age group of those aged 15-66, the force was "looking at potentially 2,000 males."
Teresa's parents could not be reached for comment Thursday. In an interview with The Globe in Garden Hill in May, Ms. Robinson described her daughter as a "happy girl." Asked what Teresa wanted for her future, she said her shy child was too young to know. Teresa's father, for his part, spent his birthday last year tramping through the woods looking for the girl's remains. Teresa would have turned 13 this coming May 14.