Saint John police investigate encampment death of man who lost parts of limbs to frostbite

Members of Street Team SJ are mourning the sudden death of a homeless man whose amputations due to frostbite last winter sparked outrage and helped prompt changes.

The body of Jamie Langille, 44, was discovered in a tent at an encampment near the Courtenay Bay Causeway and Crown Street intersection by a member of the public on Tuesday, around 8:45 p.m., the Saint John Police Force said Wednesday.

"The major crime unit, in co-operation with the coroner's office, continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death; however, it is not believed to be criminal in nature at this time," said acting Staff Sgt. Matthew Weir. He declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation, and could not say how long Langille had been dead.

An autopsy will be conducted in the coming days, said Weir, offering condolences to Langille's family and friends.

Street Team members, who provide food and supplies to the homeless, learned of Langille's devastating death through social media posts, said director Johanne McCullough. They're taking the news "quite hard," she said.

Seemed to be doing well

"We do get close to some of them when we've been serving them for so long. And Jamie has certainly been around our team members for quite a while."

Langille had been living in a tent in a wooded area uptown for about four years. In January, he lost part of his left leg and part of his right foot to frostbite after he fell asleep one night with wet feet.

At the time, Catherine Driscoll, a volunteer with Street Team SJ,  posted graphic photos of his blackened, cold-ravaged feet and the white-bandaged stumps left behind 

"We can't waste any more time. Nobody should lose their limb or their life in order to have the basic necessity of a home," she wrote on Facebook.

Since then, the team's volunteers really tried to "look out for [Langille]" and he seemed to be doing well, said McCullough, who was unable to comment on his cause of death.

"For everything that he went through, his attitude about it was absolutely phenomenal. You know, he was very positive, he was very independent. He certainly didn't let that stop him any longer than he needed to."

He was a "wanderer" and went "everywhere," initially using a wheelchair, then crutches and most recently, a prosthetic leg, she said.

McCullough's husband, Ivan, just saw Langille on Saturday. "He was in really good spirits; happy he got a meal," he said.

Langille joked around with Ivan, who just had knee replacement surgery. They compared scars and Langille told him he was growing a new knee back as well, said McCullough.

"It was just kind of funny and lighthearted and really spoke to the kind of positive attitude that he had regarding, you know, the situation that he was in," she said.

That was "pretty much the norm" for Langille, according to McCullough. "That's why it kind of makes it so hard, right? He was always very friendly and congenial with all of the volunteers, and they really quite liked him."

Landlords can help

Although people had been working with Langille to find him suitable housing, "it just hadn't happened yet," said McCullough.

"It's important to keep in mind that, you know, we need to be really flexible around what people's needs are, right? There's not one solution that works for everybody," she said.

"Our teams are always kind of hopeful ... that a solution will be found for each person, you know, in a timely manner and unfortunately time is not a luxury that we have, right? Especially with the cold weather coming."

The city needs more housing for the homeless, said McCullough. She would like to see the provincial government and landlords work together to provide more subsidized units.

She'd also like to see more services provided to help people cope with the other issues they're dealing with, she said.

Meanwhile, team members hope to start planning to get more people to take advantage of the Out of the Cold shelter this year, once they know when the shelter will open and where it be, she said.

Other encampment deaths

Langille's death comes just weeks after another homeless encampment death in the city's north end.

The body of John Surette, 58, was discovered in a tent in the area of Paradise Row on Sept. 14, around 11 a.m. The major crime unit is investigating but his death is not believed to be criminal in nature either, police have said.

Weir could not immediately provide any statistics on encampment deaths in the city, but did say "there have been a few over the past several months."

Last winter, three people died in two separate fires at the Paradise Row encampment. Rae Tyler, 33, and Jonathan Calhoun, 35, died in March, while Evan McArthur, 44, died in January.