Coroner closes investigation into murder-suicide
Thunder Bay women's advocate says death was preventable and case needs further scrutiny
The regional coroner has closed his investigation into the death of Antoinette Lavoie. There will not be an inquest into the death of the 69-year-old woman, who was shot and killed by her husband in their Murillo home in December 2010.
Joseph Lavoie then killed himself.
Gwen O'Reilly, co-ordinator with the Northwestern Ontario Women's Centre, said there are policies in place to prevent such deaths.
A case against Joseph Lavoie on an earlier assault on Antoinette was winding its way through the courts before she was killed.
In August, 2010, he threw her down the stairs and broke both her legs. Court orders prevented Joseph from having contact with Antoinette. He was also barred from having firearms in his possession. Joseph shot his wife with an unregistered gun.
O'Reilly said the system failed Antoinette.
"Unfortunately, somewhere (these policies) broke down and she ended up being murdered by her partner," she said. "So it is necessary to find out why that happened."
But the regional coroner said his investigation is closed.
Thunder Bay Police has also reviewed the way it handled the case.
"There's nothing that we found in the police process that would have averted or predicted such a tragedy happening," said Andy Hay, deputy chief.
The case may still be investigated by the province's domestic violence death review committee.
"We see (this death) as preventable," O’Reilly said. "We feel it deserves some scrutiny. For women's advocates this was a failure of the system to respond."