Inquest into Tatyanna Harrison's death ends as family seeks renewed police review

Cbc reported that a coroner's inquest into the death of Tatyanna Harrison concluded days before publication, leading her family and four advocacy groups to demand that the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General order a review and renewal of the police investigation.

Richmond RCMP found Harrison's body on May 2, 2022, on a drydocked yacht at Shelter Bay Marina & Shipyard. The 20-year-old was naked from the waist down, showed wounds on both hips, a bruised pelvis, a possible broken nose, and lacked identification, shoes, underwear or the glasses she wore daily.

Her mother, Natasha Harrison, had reported her missing from Vancouver the next day. Police initially declared the death an overdose with no suspicious circumstances. An autopsy later found only low, non-lethal levels of fentanyl and changed the cause to sepsis, yet neither the coroner nor police updated that finding promptly.

DNA analysis three months later confirmed the body's identity after five-year-old photos were judged not to match. Cbc reported that the Richmond RCMP inquiry ran alongside a missing-person case transferred among Vancouver Police Department, Surrey RCMP and back to VPD over three weeks.

The coroner's service released the body to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction without Natasha Harrison's consent or knowledge, and she learned of the burial in an unmarked Surrey cemetery grave only during the inquest.

"Tatyanna deserves dignity," Natasha Harrison said. She added that she entered the inquest seeking answers and left planning a burial ceremony for her daughter, who had lain in the unmarked grave for three years. Legal counsel Sue Brown stated that important questions remained unanswered, evidence was not tested or collected, and witness statements were not verified.