Woman spent final days in chicken-wire ‘jail’: Documents

EDMONTON — In the months before she died, a severely handicapped Alberta woman spent her days locked in a chicken-wire “jail cell” and left to sleep in a feces-smeared tent, according to court documents.

Betty Anne Gagnon was 48 years old when she died, barely able to see and unable to care for herself.

Gagnon was found dead on Nov. 20, 2009, curled in the front seat of a pickup truck parked at a gas station near Edmonton. Her face was bruised and one eye was black.

Nearly seven months later, police charged Gagnon’s sister, Denise Scriven, and her sister’s husband, Mike Scriven, in her death. The Scrivens, who live about 500 metres from the gas station where Gagnon was found, face identical charges, including manslaughter, unlawful confinement, and two counts each of assault.

Police have revealed few details of their investigation into Gagnon’s death. But court documents related to the case paint a tragic picture of the woman’s final months.

None of the allegations contained in the documents have been proven in court. And the Scrivens, on the advice of their lawyer, have not offered their side of the story.

But the documents, which were used by police to obtain a search warrant for the Scrivens’ property, contain the details of multiple interviews the two gave to police after Gagnon died.

In them, the Scrivens admit Gagnon spent her last days locked in an old school bus with no running water, no heat and no toilet.

Mike told police Gagnon was regularly also locked in the “jail cell” he had built in the garage, or kept in a fenced-in dog run in the yard.

Both Scrivens admitted they smoked crack-cocaine the day Gagnon died.

Later in the day, Denise said she found her sister lying on her side, her adult diaper and long johns pulled down, a blood clot in her nose.

Gagnon was cold and having trouble breathing, Denise said, so she went to the house and asked her husband to run a warm bath.

When she came back, Gagnon was struggling to breathe, Denise said. She told police that she got a funnel, pried open her sister’s jaw and placed it inside but it didn’t work.

After driving to a gas station and calling emergency officials, Gagnon was declared dead.

The Scrivens told police that Gagnon had lived with them for about 4 1/2 years.

Mike described her as “severely challenged” and said that since April or May 2009 she had been acting “out of the ordinary.”

“Scriven said that he was angry with Gagnon’s behaviour ... so he kicked her out of the house,” the court documents said.

He built a number of modified shelters on the property, including one in the garage he referred to as “the jail cell,” as well as a fenced dog run, a chicken hutch, a room in the basement and the bus.

The “cell,” Mike said, was a chicken wire pen in the middle of the garage. The top of the wire was cut so Gagnon couldn’t get out and the garage was wired with a camera so she could be monitored remotely.

Mike described another one of Gagnon’s shelters as a “tent city” inside a locked dog run. Eventually, he said, they had to throw out the tent Gagnon used there because it was covered in feces.

Both Scrivens said Gagnon had spent her last days inside the bus. Mike told police he had no problem locking her inside and keeping her there “24/7” despite the lack of plumbing and heat.

According to the report, a medical examiner told police Gagnon died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, although the manner of her death had not yet been determined when the report was issued.

The Scrivens are due to appear in court July 7.