Lament for Leslie Ann: Why she won't be home for the holidays

*************************************************** On Sunday, former Saultite Leslie Ann Trussler, 38, was found dead after fire swept through an abandoned house in which she'd been living in downtown London, Ontario.

"It's sad that in a country like ours, we have people so desolate, so alone they have to go into unsafe places," says Rev. Susan Eagle, a London city councillor and anti-poverty activist.

It's not unusual for bonfires to be kindled by homeless people in derelict, unheated buildings, Eagle told the London Free Press.

The following account of Leslie Ann's life and tragic death has been compiled by SooToday.com from two days of reporting by Free Press journalists Marissa Nelson, Jennifer O'Brien and Joe Matyas.

************************************************************************ A woman of talent and education

Leslie Ann Trussler had a university degree in political science. She was a talented musician -- a cellist who played in an orchestra in London, Ontario.

She was the mother of a five-year-old daughter, Kathleen, who was living with her grandparents here in the Sault.

Leslie kept in touch with Kathleen by telephone. She sent her little gifts by Canada Post.

Last Friday, Leslie called Sault Ste. Marie and led her parents, David and Marlene Trussler, to believe she was coming home.

It was not to be.

On Sunday, Leslie Ann Trussler was found dead in the back bedroom of a house in downtown London in which no one was supposed to be living.

An autopsy found that she died of smoke inhalation.

Fire sweeps through derelict building

A municipal notice stapled to the front of the house more than two years ago declares it unfit for habitation.

But to Trussler, a 38-year-old squatter with a history of mental illness, the unheated, boarded-up residence had become a home of sorts.

There were several mattresses strewn around the room in which Leslie's body was found, suggesting others may have lived there.

When firefighters arrived at 6:30 a.m., the house was engulfed in fire.

Rev. Susan Eagle, a long-time advocate for London's homeless and poor, says that Leslie's death illustrates a growing housing crisis in London, where she's known homeless people who started fires in abandoned buildings to keep warm.

"That's pretty dangerous, having a bonfire in a living room," Eagle told the London Free Press. "But when you're cold and hungry, you're meeting a basic need.

Did the Sault's mental health system fail Leslie?

Here in Sault Ste. Marie, David and Marlene Trussler believe their daughter's death could have been prevented.

Like many patients, Leslie's mental health problems responded well to medication.

But her family describes her as independent and anxious to cut her own path in life.

Last August, Trussler was released from mental health treatment here in Sault Ste. Marie.

"[Leslie] was in a Sault hospital under a community treatment order, transferred to the care of a physician who wasn't a mental health specialist and then released," writes Free Press reporter Joe Matyas, who coincidently, is married to Rev. Eagle, the anti-poverty activist.

Parents fought for treatment

According to Matyas, David and Marlene Trussler lobbied for treatment for Leslie Ann, obtaining a hearing at which a six-month community treatment order was issued.

"We feel the mental health system let our daughter down," David Trussler told the newspaper. "Our daughter didn't have to die and our granddaughter didn't have to become an orphan."

What they're doing in London

Leslie Ann's death has attracted considerable interest in London.

Yesterday, the Middlesex-London Health Unit asked the City of London to create an emergency shelter in a public building that could be opened whenever a cold weather alert is issued, or when other local shelters fill up.

The health unit made two additional requests of the City of London.

It wants all police cruisers to carry blankets that can be distributed to the homeless, and a special committee to examine cracks in services for the homeless and to determine why it is that some people avoid shelters.

You tell us

Was Leslie Ann Trussler's death preventable? Is further action needed in Sault Ste. Marie? Your comments are welcome in the News Response feature on our editorial page. At time of writing, the poll on our home page also deals with this issue.