A 24-year-old woman and her 43-year-old common-law husband face upgraded charges for the death of Phoenix Victoria Sinclair, the woman's five-year-old daughter.

Phoenix has been missing for nine months. It is believed her body has been dumped in a garbage dump on the Fisher River First Nation in Manitoba.

Despite the lack of a body, Samantha Dawn Kematch has been charged with first-degree murder, in addition to charges of assault with a weapon, aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessities of life. Karl Wesley McKay also faces a first-degree murder charge, upgraded from second-degree murder.

Phoenix was in the child welfare system for most of her life. But the province never gave her file to the Fisher River First Nation due to a bureaucratic reorganization.

Get the Story:
Charges upgraded in case of missing girl (CBC 3/15)
Police probe death of "unnoticed" 5-yr-old (The Oberlin Times 3/16)

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Mother, husband charged for death of five-year-old (3/15)