This is Part 2 of Jade's story. Part 1 can be found here.
Jade Stone's lifeless body lay under a blanket in an exterior doorway of Kelowna's Ellis Place shelter for more than 11 hours.
From 1 a.m. the night before, until she was found at around 1:45 p.m., people walked by her body on Ellis Street. She was within view of a CCTV surveillance camera, positioned in the doorway above her.
Her mother Becca Stone doesn't understand how Jade's body could have gone unnoticed for so long.
In the time that's passed, Becca has been trying to figure out what happened to her daughter, getting pieces of information from the RCMP, staff at Ellis Place and at the Alexandra Gardner Women and Children Safe Centre, where Jade had been staying.
While she hasn't been able to view the surveillance footage herself, a staff member at Ellis Place told Becca that Jade and some others arrived at the doorway to a mechanical room, facing Ellis Street, in the early morning hours of May 7.
The group appeared to smoke something, before several people walked away, leaving Jade and a man behind.
Becca says the pair “engaged in some kind of sexual act,” before they smoked something again and curled up under a blanket. At some point, the man got up and left Jade by herself.
The coroner told Becca the approximate time of Jade's death was 1:45 a.m. It wasn't until about 1 p.m. on May 7 that someone noticed Jade was dead.
'It could have been prevented'
Five weeks after Jade's death, Becca was finally able to track down the man who was with her when she died.
Speaking with the man on the phone last week, he told Becca that Jade had asked for “down” on the night in question, which is a slang term for opioids — usually heroin and/or fentanyl.
He said a woman they were with gave Jade the "down," but Becca has heard from others that the man is trying to “pass the buck.”
“He said he tried to wake her and she wouldn't wake up, so he went to go get help,” Becca said. “At which point, I was like 'Hang on a second.' It was on camera, she died at 1:45 a.m. and they told me she wasn't found until 1 p.m. in the afternoon ... so can you explain to me why my daughter laid there dead for 12 f***ing hours?
“You fed my 18-year-old daughter — my only daughter — heroin, you watched her die and you left her there.”
Becca doesn't believe the man actually sought any help.
“He probably freaked out, because he's like, 'Oh dear god, I've just fed this child a lethal dose of heroin,' got scared and ran,” Becca said.
“Where she was, it would have been easy to get help, the minute she started ODing ... that building is staffed, there's homeless people who hang around there. All he had to do was shout out for help and someone probably would have had Narcan. And my daughter would be sitting with me on the deck having our morning coffee like we would do.
“There's so many things in those last 24 hours that are just so f***ed that if it had been done differently she'd still be here. It could have been prevented.”
Police have reviewed the CCTV surveillance footage from Ellis Place and do not consider Jade's death to be the result of a criminal act.
In a brief statement, Kelowna RCMP spokesperson Ryan Watters told Castanet the investigation is still ongoing, but “Ms. Stone’s death is not suspicious or criminal in nature.”
Fighting for change
While she's spent years fighting to get her daughter the help she needed, Becca is determined to now fight to prevent others from falling through the cracks.
Speaking from her home in Kelowna's Ellison area, Becca flips through a well-used notebook, referencing countless conversations she's had with police, shelter staff and others who've provided her with bits of information.
“I guess my next step now is just fighting for change to make sure this doesn't happen again. No one should ever have to go through what she went through or what I'm now going through,” Becca said.
“My big thing, other than just finding out her last moments and and getting her stuff back, is just making sure that all these organizations make changes, like this could have been avoided.”
She's upset she wasn't contacted earlier after Jade didn't return to the safe house she was staying at by the 10:30 p.m. curfew. She's been told the safe house didn't notify the Ministry of Children and Family Services until 1:09 a.m., and police weren't notified until 1:58 a.m.
“Had they called and said your daughter is missing, I would have been out there walking the streets trying to find her,” Becca said. “Instead, I get a call at 4 a.m. in the morning. She was already dead at that point.”
Having spoken with management at Ellis Place several times, Becca still has many questions.
An unfinished painting by Jade now hangs in Becca's bedroom.
“There was a camera. You're a fully-staffed facility, supportive housing. There's staff on site ... So can you explain to me why then my daughter lay dead for 12 hours?" she said. "It's on your property, it's part of your building. Do you not go and check?”
In a statement to Castanet, Canadian Mental Health Association Kelowna, which runs Ellis Place, says they've launched an internal review following Jade's death.
“CMHA Kelowna understands that this incident raises important and difficult questions about what happened on May 7 and the broader realities facing people who are displaced in our community. While the individual was not a resident of Ellis Place, nor receiving services from CMHA Kelowna, the organization is fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation into the death,” the organization said.
“In addition, CMHA Kelowna has launched an internal review of our own protocols and practices to better understand the circumstances of this incident and to consider any steps that can be taken to help prevent similar tragedies in the future.”
Full of talent
Becca beams with pride when she speaks about Jade's artistic talents, and her skills in the kitchen.
“That's not my kitchen, that's Jade's kitchen,” Becca said, gesturing towards her home's kitchen. “I love to cook too, but I'd never get a chance because I'd be on my way home from work and she'd be like, 'Hurry up, dinner's almost ready.' And the most amazing things you could imagine, chicken parmesan better than any restaurant I'd ever had. Baking her own bread when she was 11 years old ... No recipes, it was all in her head, she just knew what to do.
Jade was learning to tattoo, and her mother let her tattoo Pinky and The Brain on her calf.
“I'd get so frustrated at her because we'd get groceries and then there'd be no food. She'd make dinner and it would be absolutely amazing, the most amazing thing I'd ever eaten but you have no concept of how much food costs.”
She's quick to show off a tattoo of Pinky and the Brain that Jade had tattooed on her leg, and Jade herself was covered in tattoos she had done herself.
A painting Jade had started for her mother hangs on the wall in Becca's bedroom, unfinished.
"She was a beautiful kid ... she was good kid who just didn't get the help she needed in the time she needed it," Becca said.
'I want my story to be heard'
On the Monday night before her death, Jade sent a number of voice notes to Becca. Becca says Jade was intoxicated at the time, and was likely “too lazy” to keep texting with her. While the voice messages annoyed her at the time, Becca is thankful to have the recordings of Jade, taken just a day before her death.
While Jade comes off as a brash, tough-talking teen in the voice notes, she reiterates over and over how much she loves her mother.
“I love you momma, I f***ing love you momma, you've done so much s**t for me, I f***ing love you. I love you so much, I'm forever grateful for the s**t you've done for me, I'm sad it had to be this way. But f**k, you done good, I'm proud of you, thank you for taking care of me when you could. Thank you for taking care of me because I'm your kid. Just thank you.”
When considering whether she wanted to publicly tell the story of her daughter's death, Becca brings up one particular voice note, which appears eerily prescient in hindsight.
“I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, if you've gotta watch your child die, I'm sorry, but that's life, that's the way it's gotta be ... I'll do some good s**t. That's all I want to do, I want my story to be heard, I feel like I'm going places.”
