Who will investigate the circumstances around Winter Acorn’s death? So far, no one

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Nearly a year after a three-month-old P.E.I. baby died at the hands of her mother — a single parent with a cognitive disability who was struggling with her mental health — no investigatory body has announced an intention to look into the circumstances leading up to the infant's death.

Winter Elizabeth Acorn was born in December 2024. She lived her short life in the care of her mother, Cassie Acorn. On March 16, 2025, Acorn struck her daughter’s head against the floor when she wouldn’t stop crying. 

The infant was taken to hospital in Charlottetown, and later airlifted to Halifax where she was declared brain dead days later. The Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service concluded the cause of death was complications of blunt-force head trauma. 

The infant was born in P.E.I., lived in P.E.I., sustained life-ending injuries in P.E.I. and entered the medical system at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown.

But according to the P.E.I. coroner’s office, it’s up to officials in Nova Scotia to launch an investigation into Winter’s death because she technically died off-Island.

“At this time, the P.E.I. Office of the Chief Coroner has not signaled intention to proceed with an inquest. Since the death occurred out of province, the primary investigative authority would be the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service and any further inquiries following the investigation would be in their jurisdiction,” provincial officials wrote in an email to CBC on Monday.

“The P.E.I. Office of the Chief Coroner retains a secondary investigative role if the circumstances leading to the death occurred on P.E.I., however, there is typically not duplication of inquiry/inquest processes in two jurisdictions.”

CBC News followed up with the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service, and officials said Thursday there were no plans to investigate the infant’s death further.

When CBC News shared that response with the P.E.I. Coroner’s Office, officials again reiterated that Nova Scotia would be the primary investigator and there were no plans to call an inquest on the Island. 

CBC News first asked the Office of the Chief Coroner if there would be an inquest into Winter’s death on April 10, 2025, the day after her mother turned herself into police and was charged. 

The coroner’s office has in the past called inquests when children were killed to look at the circumstances that led to their death. A six-person jury then makes public recommendations to prevent future similar deaths. 

There was an inquest into the death of four-year-old Nash Campbell in 2015 and nine-year old Olivia Rodd in 2021. Both died at the hands of their mothers in murder-suicide incidents. 

But in spring 2025, officials said it was too early to determine if an inquest would be called into the circumstances that led to Winter’s death and they would not provide comment while the case was before the courts.