Man gets four years in prison for Tia Blood overdose death

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on April 5, 2023.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Cara Blood, Tia Blood's sister, reads a statement as she stands with family members at the conclusion of a sentencing hearing Tuesday at the Lethbridge court house.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Paul Wright Many Chief thought it was odd when he returned home from work late one night last October, and his spouse Tia Blood wasn’t there.

Blood, a recovering drug addict, was last seen by her young son on Oct. 19 just before she left the house in the couple’s pickup truck to buy school supplies.

She wasn’t seen again until five days later when her body was found just off Highway 3 near Kipp west of Lethbridge.

Hunter Alexander Frank was charged with causing an indignity to human remains, but he was later charged with manslaughter after he confessed to police that Blood, 34, had died after the two of them had consumed fentanyl, and he disposed of the body.

“He wrapped Tia Blood’s body in a green tarp in the vehicle and dumped her body in a ditch,” Crown Prosecutor James Rouleau described Tuesday in Lethbridge court of justice, where Hunter pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge and was sentenced to four years in a federal penitentiary.

Rouleau told court Hunter, 21, provided police with a re-enactment of the events leading up to Blood’s death, and said Hunter sold Blood some fentanyl and the two of them drove to the Lethbridge library on Oct. 19 where they parked and smoked the deadly drug.

They both overdosed, but while Hunter woke up, Blood didn’t, and instead of seeking help, Hunter allowed her to die.

When he dumped her body, he also threw away two child’s seats that were in the truck.

“He could have called for help; he didn’t,” Rouleau said. “We’ll never know exactly why. He must not know exactly why, but he didn’t. He, in quite unceremoniously fashion, dumped her body in a ditch and dumped the car seats next to her.”

The victim’s sister, Cara Blood, reading from her victim impact statement, lashed out at her sister’s killer, whose actions have forever altered the lives of her family.

“I will forever be haunted by the evil actions of Hunter,” Cara said. “Watching my parents grieve their baby is one of the hardest things that I’ve had to do.”

Cara also read her mother’s statement, in which Marlene Blood wrote how she and her family will have to live with their grief forever.

“My heart is so broken. I don’t understand how any type of human being can cause so much trauma and hurt in all of us. I ache to talk to my daughter every day, and just want to hold my baby and love her again, but that will never happen again, and that is what breaks my heart the most. This act impacted us in the worst way possible. Me and my family will hurt from this forever.”

Lethbridge lawyer Darcy Shurtz, who described for the court Frank’s tragic upbringing and life, said Frank never intended to harm Blood and is remorseful for his actions.

“This is not what Mr. Frank intended,” Shurtz said. “He was a victim himself of addictions, and he never wished this upon the victim or the victim’s family, and he offers his sincere apologies for that.”

Shurtz said Frank’s parents and grandparents suffered from addictions, and his grandparents suffered abuse while at residential schools. After his father died, Frank, who was only 17 at the time, fell further into addictions with drugs and alcohol.

Frank, who was born and raised on the Blood Reserve, was already drinking alcohol when he was only eight years old, and by the time he was 11 he was using drugs. When he was 13 he was struck by a vehicle and sustained a serious head injury, put on medication, then continued using drugs after being taken off the medication.

Shurtz joined the Crown in recommending a four-year sentence, but asked Judge Paul Pharo to recommend Frank serve his sentence at the Pe Sakastew Correctional Centre in Maskwacis, a small community midway between Red Deer and Edmonton.

The federal institution is specifically for First Nations offenders, and, through traditional practices and ceremonies, will be able to help Frank work toward his rehabilitation.

“He knows there’s nothing he can do to ask for their forgiveness,” Shurtz said. “He knows that is something he may never get. But he does want them to know he is truly remorseful and sorry.”

In addition to his prison sentence, for which he was given credit for seven and a half months spent in remand custody, Frank must submit a sample of his DNA for the National DNA Data Bank, and he is prohibited from possessing weapons for life.

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