Stepdaughter’s death ‘too raw’ to talk about, Iqaluit man says
Body of Ayla Egotik-Learn discovered in Alberta on Jan. 23; common-law partner charged with murder
The body of Ayla Egotik-Learn was discovered last month and her infant daughter Braylee Beasley is still missing. Egotik-Learn’s common-law partner is charged in connection with her death. Egotik-Learn’s stepfather, Ross Learn, says, (Photo courtesy of RCMP)
The stepfather of an Inuk woman allegedly killed by her common-law partner and whose infant daughter is still missing says it’s too painful to talk about the “beautiful young lady and daughter” he lost.
“They are both my beauties and I will love them very much, forever,” Ross Learn said of his stepdaughter Ayla Egotik-Learn, 23, who moved to Alberta from Cambridge Bay in 2024, and her nine-month-old daughter Braylee Beasley.
On Thursday, RCMP in St. Albert, Alta., announced they had charged Christopher Beasley with second-degree murder in the death of Egotik-Learn.
Beasley was also charged with two counts of indignity to human remains — one count related to Egotik-Learn and the other to Braylee Beasley.
Police discovered Egotik-Learn’s body at the apartment the three shared in St. Albert on Jan. 23.
Contacted by Nunatsiaq News, Learn declined an interview but shared a statement. The pain of his stepdaughter’s death is “too raw” to talk about now, he said.
“I love her very much and will miss her for the rest of my life,” he said in his statement.
“I love her daughter … even though I never had the opportunity to meet her, cuddle her and bond with her. And I never will,” he said of Braylee Beasley.
In a news conference Thursday, RCMP Insp. Wayne Stevenson said police suspect the infant is likely dead and are actively looking for her. He said they “have some understanding” of where she might be.
In an interview Monday, RCMP Sgt. James McConnell said, “We are continuing to investigate and continuing to search for her.
“If and when we find her, we’ll notify the media, it’s obviously complicated and that’s really all I can elaborate on at this time,” he said of the search for the child.
Beasley’s next scheduled court date is Feb. 23, at the Alberta Court of Justice in St. Albert.
We Cail our first granddaughter from our 2nd oldest daughter who lives in Kugluktuk,NU we talk to our late granddaughter we told her we’re in town for a day with our daughter on November 9/25 that’s a last time we hear from her she said we all kalaging means in kablunaatun we all have cold all 3 of us have a bad cold so we went back to larga in Leduc there were 4 of us the following people were her mother and her sister and her Nana and me papa