An Interlake man who took in a young couple and a toddler, whose remains were later found in an old barn near his home, was told the girl went to live with a guardian in Winnipeg.
Henry Rawluk said Xavia Butler’s mother and the woman’s common-law partner — who was alleged to be the toddler’s biological dad — were living with him southwest of Gypsumville, when the girl was returned to her mom in March 2022.
“(Xavia) was here for a couple of months, I guess. My memory is not too good,” Rawluk, 76, told the Free Press on Sunday. “I don’t know what happened. When she disappeared from here, I thought she was living in Winnipeg.
“I was told someone from Winnipeg took her. I thought she went back to the person who was caring for her (before).”
Rawluk said it was a plausible explanation, because Xavia — a member of Pinaymootang First Nation — spent most of the first year of her life in a relative’s care.
“That’s what I was told, and she was gone,” he said. “I didn’t ask no more questions after that. I didn’t have reason to. Everything seemed normal to me.”
Rawluk said his eldest son and his son’s friend found partial remains in the barn on a neighbouring property and about 100 yards from his home off Highway 6.
“I came home from work and they told me. I was shocked,” he said. “Nobody seems to know what happened.”
RCMP were called to the scene in the Rural Municipality of Grahamdale, about 250 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, on June 3. The death is being investigated as a homicide.
Investigators confirmed Friday the remains were those of Xavia. Police said the girl, who was never reported missing, would have been about one to two years old when she died.
She was born in June 2021, said former caregiver, Natalie Anderson, who is demanding to know how Xavia’s disappearance went unnoticed for months.
The case has drawn comparisons to five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair, a fellow First Nations girl whose slaying in 2005 also wasn’t discovered for months.
No one has been charged in Xavia’s death. Police have not released any information about a potential suspect or suspects.
RCMP appealed for tips and photos of Xavia on Friday to help build a better timeline of the period between March 2022 and June of this year.
The last time investigators were able to physically place her was about a year before her remains were found, police said.
“The investigative team did work over the weekend as a result of this media release, however, due to its nature it remains ongoing at this time, and I cannot provide specifics as to what and how much was received,” RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre wrote in an email.
After Xavia was no longer living in his home, Rawluk said the girl’s mother and the woman’s partner continued to stay with him for some time before separating.
Rawluk said he learned the remains belonged to Xavia when he spoke to police.
“I didn’t know until a detective told me they identified the remains. We were all kind of shocked about it,” he said. “DNA, they said, positively identified her. I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said yes.
“They were asking me what happened, and I said I don’t know.”
Rawluk said he still speaks to Xavia’s mother, but he hasn’t heard from the woman’s former partner in several weeks.
“She doesn’t really want to talk about it,” he said. “She’s kind of upset about it.”
The mother did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Anderson told the Free Press she and Xavia’s mother, who is her cousin, had an informal arrangement that she would raise the child from birth. She gave the Free Press a copy of a contract stating parental rights were being transferred to her from the biological mother.
Anderson said the letter was signed by her, Xavia’s mother and a nurse practitioner, who acted as a witness.
She said CFS became involved and returned Xavia to her mother in March 2022. She doesn’t know if any checks were done afterward.
Anderson continued to see Xavia in video calls, which she said became less and less frequent before stopping entirely.
She said she stopped receiving updates and photos of the child after a few months, and last spoke to Xavia’s mother on the girl’s first birthday in June 2022.
Anderson said her sister contacted a CFS agency with concerns about Xavia’s well-being in March 2023. The siblings do not know how the concern was handled.
RCMP have said the girl was not in CFS care at the time she is believed to have died.
The discovery of partial remains in the barn led to a wider search, involving a police dog and forensic anthropology team, for additional remains.
Anderson understands Xavia was buried, and her remains then unearthed and moved to the barn by at least one animal.
Anyone with information about Xavia or who has photos of her after March 2022 is asked to call RCMP at 431-489-8112.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching
Reporter
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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