Ontario’s police watchdog says it found no grounds to lay a criminal charge against a Thunder Bay officer who approved the cancellation of a domestic disturbance call hours before a woman was found dead in a home.
The Special Investigations Unit has released a report on its investigation into the death of 21-year-old Jenna Ostberg, who the agency said was found without vital signs in a closet in her boyfriend’s bedroom on Dec. 30, 2023.
Ostberg and her boyfriend were arguing in his room around 2 a.m. that morning, prompting his mother to send him to another room and call 911 to report an “unwanted visitor,” the watchdog said.
The woman wanted Ostberg removed from the home because there was a court condition preventing the couple from seeing each other after a domestic assault incident earlier that year, the SIU said.
The woman called 911 again about 20 minutes later to cancel the request because the house was silent and she believed Ostberg had left, it said.
The officer confirmed the cancellation at 3:08 a.m., the SIU said, and the boyfriend called 911 around 10:30 a.m. after returning to his room and seeing Ostberg in the closet.
A law firm representing Ostberg's family said Thursday they are "deeply disappointed" with the findings of the SIU investigation and believe that had the Thunder Bay police responded to the first 911 call, she would be alive today.
The family will take time to study the report and consider its next step, Falconers LLP said in a statement.
Ostberg's parents, Melanie Beardy and Vincent Ostberg, said they continue to grapple with the loss of their daughter and remain committed to honouring her spirit and preserving her memory.
"We have no confidence in (Thunder Bay police's) ability to properly investigate deaths or ensure the safety of First Nations people," they said in a statement. "We will continue to to fight for our daughter to have her voice be heard now that she cannot speak for herself."
In the SIU report, the agency's director said "there is a case to be made" that the officer failed in his duty of care in cancelling the call, given that it was related to a domestic disturbance in the context of a history of violence.
Joseph Martino said it could also be argued that after receiving information that Ostberg had left the home, the officer could reasonably believe that "any potential for violence had dissipated and that he was within his rights to cancel the call."
"Whether or not the (officer) was negligent in cancelling the call for service, or whether any such negligence amounted to a marked and substantial departure from a reasonable level of care, the difficulty with finding criminal liability relates to two separate but related issues," Martino wrote.
One is the timing of any potentially negligent conduct and the other is determining whether it caused or contributed to Ostberg's death, he said.
Medical expert opinion was unable to establish a time of death, Martino wrote, but his report "leaves open the distinct possibility" that the woman took her own life shortly after her last known cellphone activity at 2:42 a.m.
The issue then becomes whether the officer was criminally negligent before 2:42 a.m., the last time Ostberg was known to be alive, the SIU director said.
"The call was cancelled by the call-taker at about 2:23 a.m. and then sent to the (officer) for review. That effectively left the officer about 19 minutes in which to turn his attention to the task, consider his options, and make a decision," Martino wrote.
"Bearing in mind that there is evidence that it was a busy night in the communications centre and the officer would have been occupied with other matters, and that at least several minutes would have elapsed before officers could attend at the house in any event, I am unable to reasonably conclude in this condensed window of time that any negligence by the (officer) transgressed the limits of care prescribed by the criminal law."
The Thunder Bay Police Service said in a statement it will now start an administrative review of the case, which will be reported to the police board once completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
