h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thank you...

I got to speak to my niece Jessica (the oilder Jessica) who had been up to Kenora and Thunder Bay for Jess' funeral (or funerals, as there were two, one in Kenora and the other in Thunder Bay).

I asked her if they had made any headway in understanding the circumstances that lead to Jess' death. Apparently, the forensics had made a determination.

Jess and her friend had apparently been caught drinking at school earlier in the day. The Principal, instead of calling their parents or the police, kicked them out of the school and sent them home. Of course, they decided not to go home, and went to the abandonned house, which was quite near the school and a few blocks from the other girl's house.

After spending some time in the house, they decided to spend the night there and the other girl walked the few blocks to her house to get blankets. Jess, meanwhile, using some lighter-fluid, started a fire in a firepit that kids had cut through the floor of the house and lined with bricks. While she was waiting for her friend, her friend had been caught by her mother and was locked in her room. She eventually climbed out a window and went to bring the blankets to Jess. She arrived to find the house on fire.

Apparently, the smoke from the fire caused Jess, who had asthma, have an asthmatic attack and to pass out beside the fire. The plastic container of lighterfluid was right near the edge of the firepit and it melted and the burning lighter-fluid set the floor on fire.

Jess died of smoke inhalation.

Apparently, the Ontario Provincial Police are holding the Principal of the school responsible, as he should have kept her at school and called a family member. Just the week before, a student at a school just over the provincial border in Manitoba was sent home by the Principal of his school after being found drinking. He killed himself. This was a major story and Jess' school should have made the decision to keep her there, especially as she was a minor.