Owen Sound Police Chief Craig Ambrose says he plans to try to meet with the family of Jerry Keeshig.
Keeshig died on March 4, 2018 after leaving his ex-girlfriend’s 3rd Avenue East apartment, where he went to visit his baby daughter. Witnesses reported Keeshig left and returned intoxicated, and then an altercation occurred and he eventually grabbed a small knife and threatened to harm himself. Witnesses said he then walked away from the house and made stabbing motions to his chest and dropped something on the ground.
He was pronounced dead in hospital later that night. He was 35-years-old. Keeshig’s death was deemed accidental.
Keeshig’s family, including his mother Arlene Keeshig and his stepfather Eric Jenner, held a media conference last Friday to call on Owen Sound Police to re-open the investigation into his death. They have many questions they feel have been left unanswered.
City Police Chief Ambrose says he expects to arrange a meeting with the family to see what information they have that may be relevant to the investigation.
“We will always look into any new information related to any investigation,” Ambrose says. “It’s our responsibility to provide a thorough investigation. So if there’s new information that’s come to light that we need to be made aware of and they’re willing to share with us, then we can look into that.”
He adds: “I’m not going to get into the investigative information and the file. But certainly there was some information in there that I would consider new information.”
Ambrose says he reached out to the Keeshig family’s lawyer to see if the matter could be discussed when he was made aware of the media conference being held last week. The actual incident occurred before Ambrose joined the Owen Sound Police Service in 2019, but he says he was made aware of it as a result of a freedom of information request.
“It’s a tragedy. It was a life lost, far too young,” says Ambrose. “Coming into this now, I look forward to meeting with the family to discuss it further and see if we can assist them in moving forward.”
