QAMANITTUAQ/BAKER LAKE - The community of Baker Lake was saddened by the tragic death of a young woman during a late-season blizzard that struck most of the Kivalliq earlier this month.

Mariah Mautaritnaaq, 28, was last heard from on March 30, when she made a phone call to Baker Lake Contracting Services to enquire as to when her boyfriend may be recalled to work following winter layoffs at the company.

Cpl. Kent McEachern of the Baker Lake RCMP said Mautaritnaaq had not been heard from since the day prior to her placing the call.

"Nobody knows where Mariah made her last phone call from on March 30," said McEachern. "We were in the middle of a bad blizzard at the time, which didn't clear up until the morning of Thursday, April 1.

"We were searching the town for her during the blizzard and, once the weather cleared, search and rescue became involved and we expanded the search out onto the land.

"We found her body at about 3 p.m. on April 1, about halfway up to the graveyard, frozen on the land."

Theory

McEachern said what may have happened was that Mautaritnaaq decided to head to the graveyard to visit her grandmother's grave.

He said Mautaritnaaq, who was medically diagnosed as a schizophrenic about 10 years ago, was known to do that when she was depressed.

"We assume she succumbed to the weather, but we'll have to wait until we receive the autopsy report before we know the exact cause of death.

"Where she was found is about half a kilometre across the tundra, out past our snow fence, where there are no roads.

"So, really, she was right in the middle of nowhere and nobody was travelling because of the blizzard.

"The only way anyone could possibly have found her is if they had tripped over her in the storm, because you couldn't see five feet ahead of you, it was that bad."

McEachern said the community is handling the tragedy as well as can be expected.

He said there's no backlash towards anyone in connection to the death.

"Mariah made the wrong choice by going out on the land in those conditions.

"So, I don't think anyone is blaming anybody for what happened, at least that I'm aware of."