Nunavik mother pleads for information on teen’s death

Bethany Nastapoka Epoo was found dead July 22 in her hometown of Inukjuak. With no arrests three weeks later, the girl’s mother is asking the public to come forward with any information that could help lead police to her killer. (FILE PHOTO)

The mother of a teenage girl found dead in the Nunavik village of Inukjuak last month has urged community members to come forward with any information that might help find her daughter’s killer.

Bethany Nastapoka Epoo, 14, was found dead outside a home in the Hudson coast community on July 22.

The investigation was turned over to Quebec’s provincial police, the Sûreté du Québec, whose investigators spent last week in the community.

The SQ initially said they found evidence that suggests the 14-year-old was murdered. But police have yet to make any arrests in connection to the girl’s death and that has created anxiety and frustration in the community of 1,750.

“I really have no idea why such a thing would happen to her like this,” the girl’s mother, Maina Nastapoka, said. “We never did anything wrong to anyone… why did this happen to our daughter who never deserved something like that?

“We need someone to come forward to [explain] why such thing would happen like this to our precious daughter who we love very much.”

Bethany was the second of four children born to Maina Nastapoka and Jobie Epoo of Inukjuak.

She had just finished Secondary 1 at Innalik school where she studied in the French-language stream.

The 14-year-old had a summer job at the local daycare centre; that’s where her mother picked her up at the end of her shift on Friday, July 21.

Later that evening, Bethany went out around 11:30 p.m., telling her mother she was going for a scooter ride with a friend, and that she’d be home afterwards.

But that was the last time her mother saw her daughter.

When Nastapoka awoke the next morning, and her daughter wasn’t home, she figured she’d stayed over at a friend’s place, as she sometimes did.

Bethany’s father returned home mid-day July 22 and asked after his daughter. The parents called and looked around for their daughter, but “none of her friends knew where she was,” Nastapoka said.

Early that evening, Kativik Regional Police Force officers discovered the girl’s body behind a home.

But police did not inform the girl’s family of her death until the following day, July 23.

“It was the [Sûreté du Québec] who told us because the KRPF handed [the investigation] to them,” Nastapoka said.

“But yes, it took that long until they could really tell us that it was really our daughter.”

Nastapoka said she can’t talk in any more detail about how her daughter died—it’s too difficult, she said.

“She is now home in heaven with our Lord,” she said.

Nastapoka described her daughter as social and well-liked. Her friends called Bethany caring, loving and welcoming.

Family and friends attended a funeral July 31 for the girl in Inukjuak.

Since then, police have not offered any more information to the public related to their investigation.

“The response has been that they’re doing their best,” Nastapoka said.

“We have been getting so much support in our community and I can’t ask for more.”

For its part, the KRPF said its officers in Inukjuak have been “continuously patrolling” the community, especially in the evenings.

While the investigation is headed by the SQ, Inukjuammiut can contact their local KRPF station at (819) 254-8144 to provide any information they might have about Nastapoka’s death or events leading up to it.

Nunavimmiut can also call Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-711-1800 to provide information anonymously.