Mother of 13-year-old ‘loving, kind-hearted’ overdose victim regrets not getting her day in court
Presley Wilchuck loved going to the beach and playing football. The 13-year-old girl had big dreams and wanted to become a hot rod mechanic.
“She was the most amazing kid. She was ambitious. She loved her sport. She wasn’t afraid to try something new,” says Wilchuck’s mother, Rheanne Fazakas. “She was just so kind hearted. She was just a loving goofy little girl.”
But the girl’s life was cut short when she overdosed in a Regina home in January.
Now Fazakas is speaking out and calling for change after six grueling months of searching for answers about what happened to her daughter.
Fazakas said she was close to Wilchuck. Their mother-daughter relationship entered the stage where they became close friends and confidants.
Rheanne Fazakas describes her 13-year-old daughter as goofy, kind-hearted, and someone who loved playing soccer and wanted to be a hot-rod mechanic. But then the girl got mixed up with a group of older friends that Fazakas didn’t approve of. She started skipping school and smoking cannabis. Fazakas says her daughter suffered a fatal overdose of fentanyl in January.
She had a custody agreement with Wilchuck’s father. The teen spent half her time in Regina with her father, where she went to school, and the other half at Fazakas in Buena Vista, a village about 30 miles northwest of Regina.
Fazakas said her daughter grew up quickly when she started school in Regina. Wilchuck began spending time with a group of older teens, who were between the ages of 15 and 17.
Fazakas felt that the people in the group were a bad influence on her daughter, so she transferred Wilchuck to a new school for grade 8.
“But she couldn’t click with other kids her age…she found it hard that many of them were less mature than she was.”
And so the 13-year-old’s relationship with the older group of friends continued. They were known to smoke weed, skip school, break rules and engage in other “disturbing” behavior, Fazakas said.
“She was so vulnerable, you know, pretty easily persuaded to do these things.”
What happened before Wilchuck died
On the night of January 8, 2023, Wilchuck’s father dropped her off at a house at 600 King Street in Regina.
She had said it was a friend’s house.
Three days later, Fazakas learned that her daughter had not been seen by her family since that night.
After frantically calling around and searching the Internet for information on Wilchuck’s whereabouts, Fazakas filed a missing person report with the Regina Police Department on January 12, 2023.
The Morning Edition – Sask8:08Mother of 13-year-old ‘loving, kind-hearted’ overdose victim regrets not getting her day in court
The parent of a young girl who died of an overdose in Regina is calling for change after she spent six grueling months searching for answers about what happened to her daughter.
“Agents began investigating her whereabouts and this investigation led them to several locations,” the Regina Police Department said. Trent Stevely told CBC News.
On January 13, 2023, officers followed a lead to the house in the 600 block of King Street – the house where Wilchuck had been dropped off a few days earlier.
“There was no answer when [officers] knocked at the time in an attempt to locate the female. Less than 30 minutes later, they were sent to the same King Street address for a report of an apparent overdose,” Stevely said.
I just dropped there. Fell on my knees. For example, I couldn’t breathe. It was absolutely the worst day of my life.– Rheanne Fazakas, Presley Wilchuck’s mother
“There were two people in the house at the time of our arrival and one of those people was the victim, a 13-year-old woman.”
When the police told Fazakas that Wilchuck had died, her whole world came crashing down.
“I just fell down there. I fell to my knees. I couldn’t breathe, for example. It was definitely the worst day of my life.”
Male, 23, prime suspect in death investigation
Police told CBC that the other person who was in the King Street home when Wilchuck was found dead was the prime suspect in the death investigation.
Fazakas said she learned the suspect was a 23-year-old man who had interacted with her teenage daughter online.
“Somehow online… he found her – a vulnerable little girl – and said, ‘You can make some money,'” Fazakas said.
The mother said the man had suggested that her daughter get involved in selling drugs.
“This was definitely a drug house. There are different drugs going in and out of that house, different people going in and out of that house, and he found Presley and sucked her in.”
Kayla DeMong said she has heard several stories similar to what happened to Wilchuck. She is the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction, a non-profit organization in Saskatoon that supports people who use drugs.
“We know, as far back as things go, that the idea of ​​men using drugs as a way or part of preying on younger girls isn’t new,” DeMong said.
She said the situation is more dangerous now because “drugs in our county are becoming more and more poisoned with fentanyl, which increases the risk of death.”
The Saskatchewan Coroners Service said that between January 1 and May 31 this year 181 suspected overdose deaths in the province. The opioid crisis has been going on in Canada for years, but data shows that the situation in Saskatchewan is getting worse.
We know as far back as things go that the idea of ​​men taking drugs as a way or part of preying on younger girls isn’t new.– Kayla DeMong, Prairie Harm Reduction
Fazakas said that before Presley’s death, she was unaware of how prevalent drugs were in Regina schools.
Kids can get into bad situations because they want to be part of a group, DeMong said.
“We know that whether it’s the best-adjusted young person making the right choices or not, peer pressure and the pressure to ‘be part of it’ is a huge factor in development,” DeMong said.
“And so when we see young people getting into drug-predominant situations, when there are older men preying on younger girls, it just seems exotic and fun. You feel like you ‘have to be a part of it.’ And that’s where it gets so incredibly dangerous for young girls.”
Justice for Presley Wilchuck
Wilchuck’s official cause of death was a fentanyl overdose.
Fazakas said she wanted to see the 23-year-old suspect immediately in connection with Presley’s death, but she was told the process was expected to take many months.
Police would not tell CBC what charges they had against the suspect at the time. In mid-June, police learned that the suspect had also died of an overdose.
“About an hour and a half later, after that [police] heard about the suspect’s death, they got the call that they could proceed with the charges they asked for,” Fazakas said.
The mother said she was angry to learn that the suspect had died, as justice had not been done for her girl.
“I really wanted to be in court that day,” said Fazakas.
“I’ve never had that day where I could have looked him in the eye and… [told] tell him exactly how I felt about him, what he did to our family and what he did to her friends.”
Fazakas said she feels the process with the justice system has taken much longer than it should.
She calls on different levels of government to make the filing of charges in drug trafficking cases more efficient.
“It would be nice to see the process speed up in other cases so that justice can be served for other families.”
Calls to strengthen drug laws
She also wants existing laws on drug trafficking to be tightened.
CBC News asked the Saskatchewan government what its position is on strengthening laws around drug trafficking to minors.
The province said illicit drug use and drug trafficking are under federal jurisdiction, but “Saskatchewan would support and encourage the federal government to consider strengthening existing laws or creating new ones to further protect minors.”
I want people to remember when she was just a little girl.– Rheanne Fazakas, Presley Wilchuck’s mother
CBC News has reached out to the federal Justice Department for comment, but has not received a response as of time of publication.
Fazakas said she won’t stop trying to make changes so other kids don’t experience what Wilchuck did. She is focused on progress for her daughter.
There are dark days when she breaks down, but she carries on.
“Presley wouldn’t want me to crawl into a hole and die. She still wants to see me live, for her life, tell her story, keep her memory alive,” she said.
“I want people to remember when she was just a little girl. That she was just an ordinary kid who still loved hanging out with her friends, learning new things and just growing up and trying to understand herself.”
If you struggle with substance use or have a mental health crisis, help is available.
For an emergency, call 911.
Call HealthLine 811 for 24-hour health, mental health and addiction services. It is staffed by registered nurses, psychiatric nurses and social workers.
Contact your mental health clinic.
Phone call Counseling Connect Saskatchewan for free access to quick access advice sessions.
Call one emergency hotline.
Phone call Kids Help Phone for professional guidance, information and referrals. Call 1-800-668-6868, text CONNECT to 686868, or chat online. It is confidential, free and available 24/7.
