Delores Stevenson clutches a photo of her niece, Nadine Machiskinic. Photo by Manfred Joehnck.
The bitter cold on Sunday afternoon did not prevent about two dozen people from staging a memorial walk in memory of a Regina woman who died during mysterious circumstances one year ago.
On the anniversary of the death her aunt is still waiting for answers on how it could have happened.
Clutching a large photo of her niece on Sunday, Delores Stevenson said it just doesn’t make sense. On Jan. 10, 2015, 29-year-old Nadine Machiskinic somehow got into a laundry chute on the tenth floor of the upscale Delta Hotel and fell to her death. Regina police have ruled out foul play but say the investigation is still open.
Stevenson says the explanation raises a lot of questions.
“Because of her general life style and the fact that she ended up at the Delta Hotel at 4 in the morning raises a lot of suspicion in my mind,” she said. “Suspicions that foul play was involved and that someone hurt her.”
The family has launched legal action against the hotel. It is also waiting for the findings of the provincial coroner. Stevenson says the wait for answers is hard on everyone.
In the meantime, she says holding a vigil in memory of her niece will keep the case in the public’s eye.
“My hope is that this memorial and story will continue to bring awareness to these stories that are right across Canada,” she said. “There are so many stories like this where families and communities still have a lot of unanswered questions in these sorts of cases.
Machiskinic was a sex trade worker and had addiction issues. She was also the mother of four. Stevenson did not want to go into details about Machiskinic but has said her lifestyle does not make her death any less tragic, or any less worthy of a full investigation.