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Saskatoon police told whereabouts of escapee day before baby’s death

Jul 6, 2016 | 6:11 PM

Saskatoon police have confirmed they received a tip regarding the whereabouts of the 16-year-old girl accused of killing infant Nikosis Jace Cantre, a day before his death.

Andrea Bird, a cousin of the boy’s mother, called police at 3:33 p.m. on July 2 notifying them the girl was with a member of their family.

A screenshot of her phone records indicates a two-minute call.

“I called the police and let them know that my sister and her friend found a teen wandering at 5:30 in the morning,” Bird said. “I told the police (the accused’s) name…and I told them what my sister told me when she returned to her house.”

Bird said she told the officer the girl had escaped from Kilburn Hall, an open-custody facility.

Saskatoon police were already aware of the teen being unlawfully at-large. Police confirmed they received a call from the facility shortly after the girl she ran away from the facility at 12:45 a.m. on July 2.

At that point, information about the girl – including a name and description of what she looked like – was broadcast out to police cruisers around the city.

Alyson Edwards with Saskatoon police said Wednesday a tip came in around 3 a.m. on July 2, saying the girl was at a home in the 200 block of Avenue N North. When officers arrived, they found no one at the residence.

Edwards also confirmed the the call from Andrea Bird, and said she heard the recording.

“The call taker received from her (Bird), two possible locations where the person who was unlawfully at large might be,” said Alyson Edwards with Saskatoon police Wednesday.

“One of them was on 8th Street (Bird’s sister’s home), the other was on Waterloo Crescent,” she said.

Edwards said the caller then asked if Bird’s cousin, who was allegedly with the girl at the time, had a phone where she could be reached. Bird told police and News Talk Radio her sister does not have a phone, or way to be reached.

At that point, Edwards said, the call taker asked Bird to confirm when the girl would be at a particular location.

“Ms. Bird, at that time when she was phoning us, wasn’t at either of those locations, so the call taker asked her to let us know when she arrived at either address and when she could confirm the person who was unlawfully at large was also there, and then we would send a car right away.”

Police said since Bird told them the girls might be leaving one location to return to the other, it was “too hit and miss” to send a car to either area at that time.

Edwards said no further phone calls were received from Bird, or any members of the family, following the initial tip.

Bird said she did see the girl again, while at her sister’s home on 8th Street. She said she didn’t call police because she felt the call taker wasn’t taking the matter seriously.

Edwards said based on the call, the taker asked the required questions.

Saskatoon police are looking into whether all procedures were followed correctly in the handling of the call.

 Email dponticelli@rawlco.com
 Twitter @Ms_dponticelli