Thunder Bay police reveal 3 theories in Kyle Morriseau's death

The father of a First Nations teenager who died in Thunder Bay, Ont., six years ago says he heard for the first time on Wednesday that police have not closed the case.

Kyle Morriseau, 17, was one of seven students from remote First Nations who died while attending high school in Thunder Bay. Their deaths between 2000 and 2011 are part of an on-going inquest.

Kyle's father, Christian Morriseau, said police have never told him his son's case remains open, nor did they share with the family the theories police have about what happened to Kyle.

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Morriseau said he agreed to participate in the inquest because he had questions about how his son died.

"I never got those answers through the whole inquest sitting here," Morriseau said after listening to 11 days of testimony about his son's death. "To this day I have to say it has gotten worse — my thoughts and beliefs as to how my late son got into the river."

Kyle Morriseau was last seen on Oct. 26, 2009. His body was found in the McIntyre River on Nov. 10, 2009. 

Thunder Bay police Inspector Don Lewis told the inquest that police have three theories about what happened to Kyle:

1. The man last seen with Kyle is somehow responsible for him ending up in the river

2. The girl last seen with Kyle is somehow responsible him ending up in the river

3. Kyle may have "accidentally or otherwise" ended up in the water by himself

"All three still remain a possibility," Lewis testified. "It's an open file."

The man who was last seen with Kyle was taken into custody on another matter later on the night Kyle disappeared, but police did not interview the man until two weeks later, after Kyle's body was found.

"Why was there a 14-day lapse before interviewing [the man]?" Christa Big Canoe, the lawyer for the Morriseau family, asked Lewis. 

"We believed at the time that Kyle was alive and well," Lewis said, adding that police were busy following up leads from people who said they had seen Kyle after he was reported missing.

Christian Morriseau said he felt police were "trying to push and make people believe that he fell in by himself."

"I hope they do follow up on [the other theories] because it sounds like they never did follow up on them at all in the past," he said.​

Several police documents related to the case and in evidence at the inquest are labelled "solved" and "not criminal".

Lewis said that labelling is incorrect.

He is expected to be called back to the inquest at another date to explain how the documents got those labels.

Watch live streaming video from the First Nation student deaths inquest here.

Follow CBC Thunder Bay reporter Jody Porter as she tweets from the inquest.