Tina Fontaine in car stopped by police just before she disappeared

WINNIPEG — Police stopped a vehicle in which Tina Fontaine was a passenger shortly before she was last seen alive.

Fontaine, 15, whose body was found in a plastic bag in the Red River on Aug. 17, was present at a traffic stop on Aug. 8, police said at a short-notice news conference Thursday morning about the homicide case.

“Two members of the Winnipeg Police Service had contact with her on Aug. 8, approximately 24 hours before her final disappearance,” Winnipeg police Chief Devon Clunis said Thursday morning.

Fontaine was reported missing from her foster home on July 31.

Clunis said he found out Sept. 3 that Fontaine was in a car stopped by police on Aug. 8. The two officers involved have since been “assigned to non-operational duties,” he said.

While police would be expected to take a missing girl “into care and custody,” it appears these officers didn’t do that, Supt. Danny Smyth said. It wasn’t clear the officers knew who she was, he added.

Thelma Favel, Fontaine’s grandmother, said she was told Wednesday evening that there was an internal investigation taking place.

Favel, who Fontaine lived with for much of her short life, said she was told everyone in the vehicle was asked for identification. It was pulled over because the driver was allegedly drunk, she said.

Fontaine’s death sparked renewed calls for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

There is also a review of social services’ role in her life underway. She was in the care of Child and Family Services.

“It is an ongoing protocol that happens between police and with our street reach team and also with the family services agencies,” said Kerri Irvin-Ross, Family Services Minister.

READ MORE:

• Missing teen murdered, dumped in river: police
• Girl’s death prompts renewed calls for inquiry into missing, murdered women
• Slain Manitoba teen’s social services involvement reviewed

FULL COVERAGE: Tina Fontaine