Before she was killed, Kelly Morrisseau was turning her life around so she could be reunited with her three children.

They were apprehended by Ontario’s Children’s Aid Society in October 2005.

But Kelly, who was from Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, never had the chance to see them again.

“She was a good person that just wanted to go to school and take care of her children,” said Doreen Morrisseau, Kelly’s aunt from Ottawa, Ont.

“She had this laugh, she would make everybody laugh.”

According to autopsy reports, Kelly died because of massive bleeding from multiple wounds caused by a sharp object. Gatineau police are investigating the homicide, and haven't specified how many times Kelly was stabbed or where she was wounded.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 10, 2006, a man, who was walking his dog, found Kelly naked in a pool of blood, clinging to life in a parking lot in western Quebec’s Gatineau Park.

Gatineau faces Ottawa from the north side of the Ottawa River.
Kelly died an hour after being admitted to hospital.

Gatineau police report Kelly was known to be involved in prostitution and drugs, and it is unknown whether she knew her attacker.

“Kelly was getting out [of a high-risk lifestyle] and that’s when it happened,” said Morrisseau, referring to her niece’s death.

She says that lifestyle was one Kelly did not want.

She had relocated to Winnipeg, Man. to start over, but when she came back to Ottawa, she was pushed back on the street, says Morrisseau.

According to her, an acquaintance introduced Kelly to crack cocaine, later forcing her into prostitution.

Before long, Kelly’s life spiraled into drugs and alcohol.

Morrisseau says not having her children caused a great deal of pain for Kelly.

In 2015, police rarely contact Morrisseau about Kelly’s death, but she likes to think they are continuing the investigation.

“We’re still waiting for answers,” she said. 

Media reports suggest police have actively pursued Kelly’s case.

They released a sketch of a suspect who she reportedly left an apartment with at 4 a.m. on the same morning she died.

Morrisseau says she believes someone knows what happened to Kelly.

“People don’t want to talk,” she said.

“Kids and women don’t go missing out of thin air.”

Morrisseau says there’s too many indigenous girls and women going missing or getting murdered, and too few answers.

She attends meetings on the topic, and is calling for a federal inquiry.

Even before Kelly’s death, the Morrisseau family was no stranger to tragedy.

In 1991, Kelly’s aunt, Glenda Morrisseau, 19, was murdered. Her body was found in a scrapyard in Winnipeg, Man. wearing only a shirt with her hands tied behind her back.

Police say she was smashed in the back of the head with a cinder block.