Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Holman (Mar 08/02) - A baby found frozen outside last Friday apparently died of exposure after her father passed out in the snow.

The infant, Joretta Inuktalik, was just seven weeks old. Police said preliminary autopsy results showed the baby died from cold exposure and are treating it as a suspicious death.

Sources close to the family say the baby's father had been drinking at a party that night. They said the father had the baby with him when he left the party and he was later found unconscious outside his home.

Corrie Joss, 18, was at home sleeping when her friend Dennis Okheena came knocking at the door Friday morning around 6:30 a.m. Okheena was frantic after finding the baby frozen outside.

"He was saying, 'I need help! I need help!'" Joss says. "He told us what all happened and we phoned the RCMP."

Joss says Okheena had earlier found the baby's father passed out and shivering. He dragged the man inside, but it wasn't until sometime later that the baby's mother, Florence Kataoyak, started asking for Joretta.

Okheena went outside again and this time found the baby inside a parka on the ground, Joss says.

Joss says she used to go over to Kataoyak's house everyday when Joretta was a newborn, and that the death has left her sad and angry.

It's not clear how long the infant was outside before she was discovered.

She was wearing a sleeper, t-shirt and diaper. According to Environment Canada, temperatures dipped to -27 C that night.

When the community's police officer arrived on the scene with a nurse, they decided that the child had been dead too long to attempt resuscitation, says Staff Sgt. Bob Gray in Inuvik.

The autopsy, performed in Edmonton Monday, confirmed Joretta died of hypothermia or exposure, but toxicology results won't be available for another three to five weeks.

Police have not yet decided if they will lay charges. "We're still investigating it," says Gray.

Last week, most residents were reluctant to speak about the tragedy. One man said privately that people would have to do something to address alcoholism. "You really can't point to anyone," the man said. "It's the community that has to do something about it because it was alcohol-related."

Another resident, who did not wish to be identified, said the community is just trying to come to terms with the death.

"People are not doing very well," said the woman. "We're just trying to cope. I don't know what's going on." She said the young family also has two other school-aged children, a girl who is about nine, and a younger boy.