The BC Coroners Service has made public a revised report into the death of 21-month-old Isabella Anne Constance Marie Wiens.

Isabella died in foster care on March 16, 2013. Despite an extensive investigation involving the BC Coroners Service, pathologists, RCMP and experts in childhood trauma, a cause of her death could not be established. The original coroners report was completed in May 2014. Renewed interest in the death was sparked last month when Isabella’s biological mother announced she had launched a lawsuit against the B.C. government.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe reviewed the investigation and the original coroners report, and noted that while the investigation was thorough and comprehensive, many details from that investigation were not included in the Report.

“Preparing these reports is always a balancing act between public transparency and respecting the privacy of those involved,” Lapointe noted. “Given the questions that were being asked publicly about Isabella’s death, I thought it important that the report be revised to include more of the information that had been available to the coroner.”

As a result, she ordered the file re-opened as is permitted under the Coroners Act; the revised report was made public today. Lapointe stressed that the decision to issue the revised report was made entirely independently by the BC Coroners Service with no influence whatsoever from the Ministry of Child and Family Development or anyone else in government.

Neither was any further investigative work undertaken. “This case was properly and meticulously investigated from the beginning,” she said. “The purpose of this revised report is solely to answer some of the public questions which have recently arisen.”

The revised Report can be found at: http://www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/coroners/reports/docs/wiens.pdf

Contact:

Barb McLintock
Coroner, Strategic Programs
BC Coroners Service
250 356-9253 or 250 213-5020