More than five years after Nathaniel died, the police investigation is open. The Star’s own investigation examines numerous apparent flaws

Last of a five-part series. Recap of the story so far: Unsealed police documents and social media posts reveal what was happening in the hours before Nathaniel was rushed to hospital. His mother goes on a hunt for answers, recording conversations with doctors who give their best guess as to when Nathaniel was most likely injured.

Rose-Anne and I are at the spot on the Strathroy street where in that heart-stopping moment in October 2015, she jammed on her brakes, got out of her SUV and scooped up Nathaniel from the babysitter’s arms. A few minutes before, Rose-Anne had been getting her students ready for a public health talk about dental hygiene and proper brushing habits.

“He was stiff and I couldn’t put him in the car seat and I couldn’t buckle him in, I couldn’t move his arms. His arms were stiff so I just put the car seat in the car and I drove to the hospital,” Rose-Anne recalls.

“When I looked at him I said, Oh Nate, Oh Nate, and I noticed this red scratch on the top of his ear that wasn’t there when I dropped him off,” Rose-Anne says, taking her mind back to that day.

The marks she is referring to were actually a cluster of three abrasions on the skin around Nathaniel’s left ear. One at the top, one at the bottom, one at the back, each just a few centimetres from the ear. The doctors involved in Nathaniel’s case made written note of them. In the pathology report, one is referred to as a “linear abrasion” and two are referred to as “curved linear abrasion.”

In her statement to police, Meggin Van Hoof, the babysitter, told Strathroy detectives that her cat scratched Nathaniel that morning. None of the medical reports identify the likely cause of the abrasions. Rose-Anne is adamant that Nathaniel had no marks like that when she dropped him off, nor did he have a bruise on the left temple, which doctors and the pathology report note as well. Meggin, in her statement to police, says that she “didn’t notice a bruise on his head until after he collapsed,” just before she took Nathaniel to meet Rose-Anne.

The police investigation into Nathaniel’s death has passed the five-and-a-half-year mark. The Star, in its probe, has found numerous apparent missteps in the case — including lack of focus on the ear scratches and the timing of the bruise on his left temple.

The Star has sought comment from all of the officers who have investigated Nathaniel’s case, but all have declined comment.

One of the officers the Star has reached out to is Det. Sgt. Todd Amlin, the primary OPP investigator for the first two years and also the officer assigned as the OPP’s “victim liaison officer.”

“Your questions to OPP Detective Sergeant Todd Amlin regarding the Nathaniel McLellan case have been forwarded to me. I am responding on his behalf,” said Bill Dickson, acting manager of media relations for the OPP. “We will not be granting any interviews at this time and there is no additional information the OPP can share with you.”

In an unrelated matter, Amlin, following his time on the Nathaniel probe, was charged with sexually assaulting a female OPP officer over a 2010 incident at the OPP academy training facility where they were assigned dorm rooms during a course. (The complaint was not made until years later.) Amlin pleaded guilty in criminal court to the lesser included charge of simple assault. In his guilty plea he admitted to entering a female officer’s darkened room, jumping on top of her and “dry humping” her. Amlin received a 12-month probationary order from the court and is still on the OPP, and according to the force has maintained his rank.

The veteran female officer told court in her victim impact statement that she was in her underwear, asleep on her bed when someone entered her room. “I believed I was about to be raped. Being a victim of rape is my biggest fear, as it is for most, if not all, women. As I was fighting to get free of my attacker, my attacker released me, and only then did I see it was you. What did you do at that moment? You stood there and laughed at me.”

Amlin is the officer who conducted many of the interviews, including the interrogation of Rose-Anne.

Today, the primary investigator on the case, according to the OPP, is Det. Insp. Pete Liptrott of the Criminal Investigation Branch.

Neither Liptrott nor his boss, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique, would speak to the Star about Nathaniel’s case.

The Star’s own review of the case shows a series of what appear to be shortcomings in how the investigation was handled, first by Strathroy-Caradoc police, then by the OPP. Among them:

In the early days, both Strathroy and OPP detectives were told by top medical experts that, had Nathaniel been fatally injured the evening before he was rushed to hospital, he most likely would have shown severe symptoms within hours. And if he had gone to sleep afterward he would likely not have woken up that Tuesday morning and been normal at daycare. Still, police focused on the parents, who were not provided this forensic information for two years, and then only by doctors on the case.

Police identified the parents and the babysitter as persons of interest in all search warrant requests but they put more focus on the parents than the babysitter. For example, while the police searched the parents’ home three times, the single warrant executed at the babysitter’s home did not include the outdoors. Police also failed to interview people who were potential witnesses, including a neighbour (Al Azevedo) who saw Meggin holding Nathaniel and walking to meet Rose-Anne after Nathaniel collapsed.

Liptrott, the primary investigator in 2017 (replacing Amlin) since 2018, sent case records to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in 2018, requesting “a further medical interpretation from a pediatrician” to assist with his investigation. Liptrott received the report a year ago. To the Star’s knowledge, based on contact with many of the people involved in the case, it has been years since the OPP interviewed anyone on the Nathaniel probe. Still, both Strathroy police and the OPP are referring to the case as “ongoing” as the reason for maintaining a seal on thousands of pages of police interviews and audiotapes that both the McLellan family and the Toronto Star are seeking.

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The funeral for Nathaniel Wayne McLellan was held at Sacred Heart Church in Parkhill on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015.

Heather Jennings, a professional photographer turned funeral director, handled the arrangements. She knew the McLellan family well. Heather and Rose-Anne played basketball together as adults, she knew Kent and his family growing up, and their kids played hockey together. When the call came in at the funeral home she had a sharp intake of breath. In her former working life she had photographed the family.

It was standing-room only at Sacred Heart, with an overflow room. Before the tiny casket was closed at the earlier visitation, mourners saw pictures that Gabe, Luke and Noah had drawn tucked around his body. In Nathaniel’s clasped hands was a lock of Rose-Anne’s curls. The three boys recall how their little brother loved to lace his fingers through their mom’s hair, which soothed him and helped him sleep.

Before the “celebration of life” service began, Rose-Anne and the three boys took the stage. Kent stayed sitting with his parents and the rest of the family. It was just too much for him. The boys spoke first, comments that would later be replicated under a under a clear tablecloth at the McLellan home.

Luke, 8: “I love you Nate, I miss you.”

Gabe, 10: “Nate was a good brother. I loved to play with him and I love you Nate.”

Noah, 6: “I love you Nate. I miss you Nate. Have a safe trip Nate.”

When Rose-Anne started speaking, those in the audience who knew her as a teacher were not surprised at her strong voice. Richard Van De Wiele, Rose-Anne’s father, was not surprised his daughter held it together. “In a crisis situation she has an ability to keep her head,” says Richard.

“Kent and I have been blessed with four beautiful boys, Gabriel, Lucas, Noah and Nathaniel. We love and adore each and every one of them. They have changed our lives in such special ways. Nathaniel was our baby and since his arrival has brought us so much joy. As I rocked him each and every day I seem to have found a peace and a calmness that I had not yet known.”

As is the practice in their small town, when Father Tony Laforet completed the service that Friday morning and the funeral coach and procession left Sacred Heart for the cemetery, the children from the adjacent elementary school came out and lined up to pay their respects.

At the OPP detachment in Strathroy, detectives were preparing search warrants and production orders that would be executed in the coming weeks, including the third search of the McLellan home and the only search of Meggin’s home.

In Meggin and Brian Van Hoof’s statement of defence to the civil lawsuit filed by the McLellans, she states that “the Ontario Provincial Police and the Strathroy Caradoc Police Service fully investigated and exonerated the Van Hoofs.” The Van Hoofs also state that police concluded that “Meggin and Brian had not done anything wrong.”

Neither police service would answer any questions from the Star regarding this statement by the Van Hoofs or any other part of the case. Kent and Rose-Anne McLellan say they have not received any official document from either police service saying they have been cleared.

Where are they/what is happening now:

Rose-Anne and Kent McLellan: Rose-Anne was pregnant when Nathaniel died and she gave birth to William in May 2016. Their hope when they met was to have five children — daughter Bella was born in August 2018. They continue to pursue justice for Nathaniel with a hope that, as Rose-Anne says, “the system will improve so that this does not happen to others.” Their home bustles with activity — schoolwork, hockey and other sports when the pandemic allows. Rose-Anne has not returned to teaching; Kent still runs his heating and air conditioning business. Last fall, on the fifth anniversary of Nathaniel’s death, the Parkhill community invited the McLellan family to a local prayer garden, where they had built a small memorial to honour their son’s short life.

Meggin Van Hoof: On LinkedIn, Meggin lists herself as a founding distributor of MojiLife, a fragrance company. “I am a mom, an entrepreneur, wife and Fragrance Diva!” according to her post. Two years after Nathaniel died, the province issued a “compliance order” to Meggin requiring her to “immediately reduce the number of children in her care” to no more than five children, with no more than two of the children being under the age of two. The note, posted on a government website in October 2017 (two years after Nathaniel died), instructs Meggin to provide parents of children she is caring for with written disclosure that her daycare program is not licensed by the Government of Ontario. Meggin no longer provides daycare.

Police refusal to release information: The McLellan family has made numerous requests for information on their son’s case, including a request for investigative documents, including video and audiotapes of interviews police conducted with Rose-Anne, Kent, Gabe, Luke and Noah. Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commission has denied these requests and the matter is headed for judicial review. The Star is seeking to intervene in the case. Both the Strathroy-Caradoc police and the OPP have made the argument that to release the audio and video interviews (and other information) would hurt the investigation.

Civil cases: There are multiple actions filed in London civil court. The McLellan family sued the Van Hoof family and the Strathroy-Caradoc Police Service, alleging that Meggin was responsible for Nathaniel’s injury and that the Strathroy force was negligent in its investigation. The Van Hoofs and the Strathroy police have filed defences denying the allegations, and the Van Hoofs have countersued the McLellan family. The McLellan family has also sued the OPP, alleging that their officers developed “a narrative” from the start suggesting the McLellans were to blame. None of these allegations have been tested in court and no date has been set for any of the trials.

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