"Foul Play is Suspected" But Death of Abbotsford Baby Alexcia McKamey in Chilliwack Still a Mystery...

Rochelle Baker / Abbotsford-Mission Times October 28, 2013 05:24 PM Abbotsford toddler Alexcia McKamey died a suspicious death in Chilliwack on Sept. 30. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is investigating but a month later the baby's mother still has no idea what happened to her daughter.


The roadside memorial to Abbotsford toddler Alexcia McKamey is ever growing. A pink umbrella shelters a portrait of the blue-eyed baby girl dressed in a flower headband and matching tutu. A pile of plush toys, favourite playthings and half a dozen pairs of sunglasses are piled at the base of white cross adorned with balloons and bouquets of flowers. Families traversing Discovery Trail along Maclure Road stop in the fall sunshine to wonder what happened to the smiling toddler pictured in the photographs at the site. They are not alone. Alexcia’s mother Jacqueline is also still waiting to learn how and why her 14-month-old daughter died on Sept. 20 in Chilliwack.

Foul play is suspected in the death of the baby girl and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) is investigating. The night Alexcia died, RCMP were called to a home in the Promontory area of Chilliwack, where they found an infant in medical distress. Alexcia was taken to hospital but attempts to revive her were unsuccessful. Autopsy results are still pending. But the wait is killing Jacqueline, who wasn’t even able to see Alexcia until seven days after her death. “That’s the hardest part of it,” says the young mother, who adds the nights are hardest to bear. “I have a million and one questions and what ifs. “I need to know, so I can stop wondering if there’s something I could have done.” Jacqueline’s been told she won’t get all the answers until the end of November. The last time Jacqueline saw her daughter was when Alexcia left for a scheduled visit with her biological father. IHIT arrested and subsequently released a man the night of Alexcia’s death but did not identify him. No charged have been laid in the case. In the meantime, Jacqueline is left to attend to her daughter’s memorial site, often for hours a day. “It’s a place I go to grieve, so I can try to remember the happy memories at home,” she says. Alexcia, who was always full of smiles, had the bluest eyes, she said. “People used to stop us on the street and at the supermarket to look at them,” recalls Jacqueline. The little girl also loved to dance to country music on the radio and had a penchant for eyewear. “She loved sunglasses. She’d be wearing hers but she’d still steal them off other people’s faces.”

Spending time at Alexcia’s memorial until she can get her daughter’s remains provides Jacqueline with some small measure of solace. She and Alexcia’s stepfather Sean often stay until dusk when the candles light up the little girl’s portraits and toys. She is moved that so many people have left mementos at the site for her little girl. “It helps to know many lives Alexcia touched.” @RochelleBaker1 RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com © Copyright 2013 - See more at: http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/abbotsford-mother-grieves-unexplained-death-of-baby-daughter-in-chilliwack-1.675625#sthash.lvyFZ2SB.dpuf


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