Family searching for answers after mysterious death at Saint John hospital

Serena Perry, a patient at the Saint John Regional Hospital’s psychiatric ward, was found dead at the facility’s amphitheatre on Feb. 14, 2012.

Almost 16 months have passed since the death of a young woman at the Saint John Regional Hospital.

Serena Perry, a patient at the hospital’s psychiatric ward, was found dead at the facility’s amphitheatre on Feb. 14, 2012.

Police have determined no charges will be laid in her death, but her family isn’t ready to let the case rest just yet.

Perry’s sister, Tasha King, remembers the night she received a text message from a friend that her 22-year-old sister had been found dead at the hospital.

“She text messaged and said ‘sorry to hear about your sister Tash,’ and I said ‘what do you mean? What’s wrong with her?’ So she called me right up, she told me ‘Serena is dead Tasha.’”

Newly released hospital records say Perry was found lying on her back with a bathrobe tied loosely around her neck.

According to the coroner’s report, a cause of death couldn’t be determined, which police would need to move forward with charges in the case.

But Perry’s family isn’t willing to accept that, saying she was last seen going into the amphitheatre with another patient from her ward.

They believe the man is responsible for her death.

“She told me about this boy, and she didn’t mention his name, and he said to her he had a car, had a house, all kinds of money and wanted to marry her,” says her mother, Rose Perry.

The Perry family is now working with a lawyer to find the young man who, allegedly, was the last person to see her alive. They say the police told them he had moved away.

“So, we’re basically asking anyone from the public, doesn’t have to, don’t have to give your names,” says her sister, Melissa Perry. “Anyone who can help us with tips on if they knew this guy’s name.”

The family says neither hospital staff nor police have given them much information about what happened that day, but they were given a large stack of hospital documents to sort through.

Right now, they say their main goal is identifying the man who they believe was last seen with Perry, and keeping her memory alive.

“She was amazing. She was happy-go-lucky,” says Tasha King. “She had paranoid schizophrenia but when she was on her medication she was a normal girl.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar