Neebin Icebound died of hypothermia Oct. 9, 2022, in the Cree community of Waswanipi, about 490 kilometres northwest of Quebec City. Early that morning, police received a call reporting a partially naked woman lying on the ground near an elementary school, Coroner Karine Spénard wrote in her report on Icebound’s death.

Three officers — two from the Quebec provincial police and one from the Cree police service — responded, but they only spent around 10 minutes looking for the teenager, using the lights on their cars and a flashlight to search in the dark, foggy morning.

“I find it astonishing that the search didn’t continue longer or in a broader manner,” Spénard wrote in her report dated Sept. 7, adding that police drove by the street where Icebound would be found two hours later.

Given the cold, rainy weather, with temperatures around the freezing point, it would have been wise for police to have searched a larger area, the coroner said.

“This woman could have been the victim of a criminal act — intoxicated or simply ill," Spénard wrote. “As the police didn’t have this information, it was doubly important to be vigilant.”