The jury is selected and the inquest into the death of Nadine Machiskinic is underway in Regina.
The 29-year-old died when she fell 10-storeys down the laundry chute at the Delta Hotel two years ago. The coroner ruled her death accidental.
“I’m glad we’re getting some answers and I hope we will continue to get answers,” Delores Stevenson, Machiskinic’s aunt, said. “I’m worried about how I’m going to process everything that’s going to be informed and shared with my family and the public.”
On the first day, the six-person jury learned that on the night Machiskinic died just one room of the 10th floor of the hotel was occupied.
Regina police constable Keith Malcolm with the forensic identification unit collected the evidence the night Machiskinic died. He confirmed that the DNA taken was mostly from Machiskinic and any other samples collected were too small to be analyzed.
However human error led to a delay in sending toxicology away because the officers involved each thought the other had sent it.
“I hope that we will get some truth and get some answers,” Stevenson said upon hearing that information.
Machiskinic was wearing jeans, a black jacket and a black parka with a rip on the seam when she was processed at the hospital. She also had a cellphone and two empty pill bottles in her possession.
The laundry chute was on the wall inside a small maintenance closet on the 10th floor. The door to the chute measured roughly 53 centimetres or 20 inches across.
A coroner’s inquest does not assign blame but does try to learn how and why a death occurred in order to make recommendations to prevent similar deaths from happening in the future.
The inquest is scheduled to last all week.