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INTRODUCTION: THE LONELY PLACE

This article contains material about suicide that may be disturbing to some readers.

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UASHAT — The weather had already started to turn when Nadeige Guanish set out for the pines at the edge of town.

Cold gusts of wind came howling off the Gulf of St-Lawrence, carrying the smell of saltwater into the foothills that overlook Uashat. Soon, a heavy snow would batter the coast and signal the beginning of another long, sub-Arctic winter in Innu territory.

Nadeige walked past the highway and into the woods, carrying her cellphone and a length of rope. She took a moment to send one last text message to a friend. There were no words, just the picture of a hand waving goodbye.

Only Nadeige knows why she chose to die in this lonely place. The 18-year-old had been assaulted in these woods on her way home from a party.

She may have sought the cover of the pines to ensure it would be a police officer, and not one of her nine siblings, who would discover her body.