Joseph Ross Gladue, 38, died just over a month ago in an inner-city homeless encampment.
Little has been said by police since his death, leaving a family searching for clues as to what happened to the man they describe as caring and helpful, but caught in a world of addiction and at home with life on the streets of Edmonton.
Speaking matter-of-factly, his mother Noreen Gladue said her son was in and out of jail frequently, starting as a teenager.
Drugs were a part of his life, and she said he was known amongst the central Edmonton homeless population.
One day after his funeral, the victim’s mother and former long-term partner reflected with brutal honesty about the struggles the Alberta man, who went by his middle name of Ross, had before his life was cut short.
Gladue’s life had challenges but Noreen said her son never talked back and helped his family when he could.
However, he never really held down a job.
“He only knew street life. I don’t want to say that about him to be mean… but that’s all he knew.”
Noreen said when the family lived for a while in far northern Alberta, her son was in school and attended college in Fairview.
“But once he came back to Edmonton, that was all gone. Got his tickets and stuff, and then when he came here… he got lost again.”
Noreen herself has struggled with secure housing and knows what it is to be homeless. When she had a roof over her head, her son would occasionally come over to change into new clothes, get cleaned up and sleep over, but she said he would end up back out on the streets.
“I didn’t have a place at that time when (his death) happened, I was boarding and staying here,” she said of the temporary housing she is living at right now in northeast Edmonton, where Global News interviewed her.
Desiree Kenney was 16 when she met Ross Gladue, who was 18 at the time. Like many teenagers, they met through friends at a party. They began dating and were in a relationship, on and off, for a decade. They had a daughter together.
Kenney is a candid recovering drug addict and said Gladue also struggled with substances. She said she became hooked on crack cocaine when she was 12, and got into crystal meth 10 years later.
“Throughout the years, he would always try to detox me,” Kenney said, describing how Gladue would look after her as she worked to get clean.
“Throughout the years, he’d always tell me like, ‘OK, Desiree, this is your last chance,’ and then I’d beg him to take me back,” she said while musing about their life together.
They consoled each other through the devastating loss of parents: in 2014, her mom died just months before his dad passed away. That sent them both into a spiral.
“We tried to stay together. But you know, when we’re both in active addiction, it’s hard.”
Kenney said when deep in addiction, she clung to the dream of being a happy family — but eventually realized the relationship had run its course and they were too toxic. She completed treatment, went to court and regained custody of their daughter after the child was in care for four years.
“I won the trial and and then I changed. They say people, places and things,” Kenney said of the concept taught in rehab that remaining around triggers will lure a person into relapse and should be avoided.
“So that’s what I did: I created a different life, and, you know, Ross, he stayed — the streets were his home.”
Kenney said she realizes now how hard their addictions were on their families.
“We put our loved ones through so much pain and I didn’t realize that until I was sober myself and I watched him you know, stuck in addiction.”
Noreen tried to get her son to go to treatment as well, but said Gladue worried about what his friends would think and brushed off the idea: “I knew then I could not really do anything until he’s ready.”
That day never came.
Kenney feels conflicted: her life got better while her child’s father continued to struggle on the streets.
“Makes me wonder… should I have tried more now that I was sober? Because he was always there for me when I was struggling in an addiction.”
Their 12-year-old daughter held out hope her dad would get cleaned up and they could have more of a life together: “Throughout the years, she still loved him and he still loved her, but she didn’t see him as often.”
Kenney said the news of his death left their daughter feeling cheated.
“She was angry that he was robbed of his life — robbed of the possibility to be a family again.
“You know, I think we’re all angry that his life was cut so short.”
Gladue was found dead by the city’s encampment team on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022.
His body was discovered at an inner-city homeless camp by the walking path and LRT tracks near 95 Street and 106 Avenue in the McCauley neighbourhood.
“I still don’t know why they did this to him,” his mother said, becoming choked up with tears.
“I don’t know why they would hurt him the way they did.”
An autopsy was done a few days later, when Edmonton police said the cause of death was being withheld for investigative reasons and police said the manner of death is pending, but homicide detectives continues to investigate the death and consider it to be suspicious.
“They said they found him in the tent, covered in a tarp,” Gladue said of when the investigators told her of her son’s death. “They said, ‘We’re doing what we can.'”
The news was shocking for Noreen. Speaking about it on Friday, she struggled to find the words to describe the disbelief and denial she found herself in: “I didn’t know what to think.”
“It just killed me.”
She said she used to help her son out when she could, with clean clothes and whatever money she could spare. That was the case the weekend before he died — the last time she saw her child alive.
“I gave him, like, $50 that time. Whatever I have in my pocket, I’ll give him,” she said.
It’s been five weeks since he died, but on Friday, Edmonton police said they were unable to share any new details on the case.
It’s still officially being treated as a suspicious death, even though Noreen said investigators told her Gladue was killed.
“I haven’t heard from them since then. I don’t really know what happened.”
“I talked to them once and they said that they don’t have anything. They don’t even have a lead, they told me.”
Noreen said her son hustled but wasn’t known for hurting others, and was part of a street community that helped each other get by.
His death still bewilders her: “He didn’t have anything for anybody to kill him (over).”
It’s not uncommon for grieving families to describe their loved one as a person who would do anything for anyone, or give their shirt off their back — but Kenney said her ex put his money where his mouth was. Or rather, his shoes.
A friend was going on a date and wearing ratty, smelly old footwear. While also homeless, Gladue had new shoes gifted by a family member and Kenney said he handed them over without a second thought.
“He literally took off his shoes and his socks and he gave it to his friend and he took his friend’s shoes — I couldn’t believe it,” she said, adding she wouldn’t have been so selfless.
“But that story always stuck with me. And his friend was so happy.”
Homeless people are still humans who deserve respect and a fulsome death investigation, Kenney stressed.
“We want answers. We want justice. You know, he was a human being, whether he was on the street or not — it doesn’t change anything.”
As much as she wants answers, Noreen knows it won’t bring her son back. “And that’s who we want.”
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