Ebb and Flow family seeking answers after grandmother found dead in field near Winnipeg

The family of a mother and grandmother from Ebb and Flow First Nation, who was living with mobility issues and had been frequenting downtown Winnipeg homeless shelters, wants to know how she ended up dead in a field north of the city.

The body of Lori Ann Mancheese, 53, was discovered near the intersection of Highway 8 and Grassmere Road on June 6, according to family members and the RCMP.

Eugenia Houle, Mancheese’s niece, told CTV News Winnipeg she was notified by RCMP of her aunt’s death in Ebb and Flow on June 9 but she said family members have been provided few details about the circumstances of what happened.

“It’s frustrating because we didn’t get any answers,” Houle said. “We asked what the cause of death was and they weren’t able to tell us that. We asked so many questions.”

RCMP said Monday that investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy and continue to investigate the circumstances of Mancheese’s death. But at this point, police don’t suspect any criminality is involved.

Houle said her aunt had five children and seven grandchildren. She said her aunt was an active person until her arthritis got worse which slowed her down.

She said she last saw Mancheese in Ebb and Flow, which is located about 235 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg on the western shores of Lake Manitoba, at the end of April.

According to Houle, her aunt had a difficult time finding housing in Ebb and Flow and spent time staying with one of her sisters (Houle’s aunt Norma) and at Houle’s home when she was staying in the community.

“She would take off to the city (Winnipeg) for maybe months and months at a time and whenever she did come home she would come here or to Norma’s,” Houle said. “I keep asking myself, 'why did she leave here that morning?'”

She said her aunt sometimes called family members from hospitals in Winnipeg and told them she spent time in and around downtown Winnipeg homeless shelters.

Houle said her aunt found rides to travel between Ebb and Flow and Winnipeg.

Houle’s remembering her aunt as a happy person.

“She was nice,” Houle said. “She was very, very tiny. She’s the smallest in our whole family.”

“She was also very lovable towards us and towards our kids.”

Houle said relatives plan to travel to Winnipeg from Ebb and Flow Thursday to visit the site where Mancheese was found and to hold a vigil outside the Manitoba Legislative Building.

For the family, the details they have been given so far don’t seem to add up.

“I was surprised, very surprised to hear that about her and the way that it happened to her. The way she was found,” Houle said. “That’s what bothers all of us. And we still ask each other every day, we ask each other, ‘why would she be way over there? What was she doing way over there? What was she doing in a field?’"