NORTH BATTLEFORD — Update: June 27, 2024: An image of a house consumed by flames in North Battleford didn't depict a person’s hand waving for help out of the window, say RCMP. A house fire at 952 – 105th Street in North Battleford on June 15 had claimed the life of 20-year-old Tanisha Pritchard.
The City of North Battleford released a photo of the house on fire and Tanisha Pritchard’s mother, Tara Pritchard, had told SaskToday that it appeared a person's hand was waving for help out of a window of the house engulfed in flames and she believed it was her daughter's arm.
“Battlefords RCMP has reviewed a higher resolution version of the photo in question, and has consulted with scene investigators,” said Battlefords RCMP. “The object in the window is not an arm.
“As investigation has now determined this is a non-suspicious fire and sudden death, no further updates or information can be provided,” added the RCMP.
The photo went gone viral on social media, with North Battleford and area residents expressing disbelief and outrage that no one helped what appears to be a person waving for help from the window of the burning house.
The house in North Battleford where Tanisha Pritchard lost her life is Mavis Takakenew’s home, and the same house where the assault and torture of Tiki Laverdiere started. before she was taken to two other houses and eventually murdered.
Original story: The mother of the victim found in Saturday’s house fire in North Battleford says she has been notified by authorities that the victim is her daughter, 20-year-old Tanisha Pritchard. The body of one deceased person was found in the rubble of the fire two days after the fire, say authorities. Police have identified the victim but haven't released the name.
Her body was found Monday in the rubble of the house fire at 952–105 Street in North Battleford. This is the same house where the assault against Tiki Laverdiere started before she was murdered, and its owner, Mavis Takakenew, was one of 10 people convicted in her death. North Battleford residents are now calling it the "house of horrors."
“I don’t know what my baby was doing in that house,” Tara Pritchard told SaskToday in a phone interview Friday. “I don’t know what she was doing in that house."
Tara said she searched for her daughter for two days, and people told her Tanisha was last seen at the Takakenew house. She said as soon as she went to the house to look for her daughter’s body on Monday, two days after the fire and before her body was found, police arrived.
“A cop pulled up and said, ‘what are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m looking for my daughter, she has been missing for two days, she was in that fire. People are telling me she was last seen there.’”
After Tanisha’s body was found in the rubble of the house fire, Tara said she went back to the house to look for bullet casings to determine the calibre. She said her, and some people who went with her to help search, had gloves and were ready to spend the day looking for bullet casings in the debris.
“I had a team. We had plastic gloves. I had people to help me find the casings. I would be able to determine what kind of bullet and how many bullets.”
But she said as soon as she arrived, the authorities came and told her to leave.
“Now [police] are telling me there’s no bullets. I went back to look for bullets. People are telling me she got shot. Neighbours said they heard a fight the night before they heard gunshots.
“Cops are saying ‘nothing strange,’” added Tara. “This girl Tiki [Laverdiere] was tortured in that house and they found her human remains outside of town. In the stories, Mavis and Sam Takakenew were helping dispose of her body. The cops are telling me no comparison, there is nothing serious about your daughter’s death, she died in a house fire.
“They burnt Tiki to death,” said Tara. “My daughter was burnt to death and there’s nothing suspicious about that?
“Why are police and the coroner telling me she wasn't murdered,” added Tara. “I’m doing my own investigating. I have proof, evidence. I’m being my daughter’s voice right now. I have evidence I have proof. Maybe something is unwrapping here. If I get killed over this I don’t [expletive] care because I’m solving my daughter’s murder.”
Tara said right after the house fire the burnt structure smelled like cleaners and chemicals.
There were tents pitched in the back of Mavis Takakenew’s house and Tara said she searched a garbage bag in the back and found her daughter’s bra in the bag.
On Monday, the City of North Battleford released a photo of Mavis Takakenew's house on fire at 952–105 Street in North Battleford. In the photo it appears that a person's hand is waving for help out of a window of the house engulfed in flames.
Since then, the photo has gone viral on social media, with North Battleford and area residents expressing disbelief and outrage that no one helped what appears to be a person waving for help from the window of the burning house.
One woman said, "Do you all see the hand in the window? [She] didn't deserve this. She was a kind, loving young woman, and she didn't wanna go out like this. How did the cops, the fire department and all the people standing out there not see that? She was trying too [sic] get help."
Another said: "Omg!! So sad, how could they have missed that!!"
Tara said she believes the hand in the window appears to be her daughter’s hand.
“She was burned alive. She was alive, yes."
The City of North Battleford said they're unable to provide a comment about the photo that seems to show a person waving for help in the burning house, as this matter is now the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency’s (SPSA) jurisdiction.
SaskToday reached out to the SPSA for comment, and they said because they weren't involved in the extraction at the house fire, to speak with the City of North Battleford.
The SPSA is responsible for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, the Emergency 911 System Act, the Public Safety Answering Point Regulations, the Emergency Planning Act, the Emergency Services Telecommunication Program Regulations, the Fire Safety Act, the Fire Safety Regulations, the Wildfire Act, and the Wildfire Regulations.
Mavis Takakenew's house, at 952-105th Street in North Battleford, was where the torture of Laverdiere started before she was taken to two other houses and eventually murdered. This is the second house where Laverdiere was tortured that has been wiped out. The second house Laverdiere was taken to, 1412-101st Street in North Battleford, has since been torn down. The third house at 1432 – 101st Street, where Laverdiere was tortured for about five to six hours and then murdered, is the only one still standing.
One of the prosecutors who prosecuted the 10 people convicted called Laverdiere's murder a "horror movie," and a defence lawyer for one of the 10 accused said Laverdiere's murder was the 'most horrific gang murder in Saskatchewan history.'
ljoy@sasktoday.ca
