The circumstances surrounding the disappearance and subsequent death of Alloura Wells in 2017 have been the subject of significant criticism directed at the Toronto police in Canada. The second half of the episode of “Still a Mystery: Danger at Close Range” airing on Investigation Discovery focuses on Alloura’s early life and the events that led to her disappearance for no apparent reason. The show also follows the authorities’ response after the missing person report was filed for her. Here’s what we know about what happened to Alloura, in case you want to know more.
Death of Allura Wells
How did Alloura Wells die?
Alloura revealed her true gender to her family when she was 18, despite the fact that she was born male. She was the third of four children, and throughout her childhood she was known to be a reserved but affable person. Early in Alloura’s life, her family struggled to make ends meet, which led to her running away from home frequently, sometimes leaving for weeks or months at a time. The man, who was 27 at the time of the event, was living on the streets in Rosedale Lavine, located in Ontario, Canada.
Facebook was the primary medium through which Alloura maintained relationships with those close to her. As a result, as she stopped updating her account at the end of July 2017, they started to worry. But it wasn’t until November 2017 that Alloura’s disappearance was reported to the authorities. Her body was discovered on August 5, 2017, near a road in Rosedale Valley, Ontario by two hikers. By then she was already dead. The remains, which were badly decomposed, were discovered next to a tent, and there were drug paraphernalia and a wallet near the body.
Nevertheless, the identification of the bones did not take place until the second half of November 2017. The autopsy revealed that the deceased suffered from serious injuries not only at the time of death but also in the months preceding it. . In the moments leading up to his death, it is possible that Alloura suffered blunt force trauma. Authorities ruled there was no evidence of criminal activity and the medical examiner noted the cause of death was unknown.
Biography of Alloura Wells
Was Alloura Wells killed?
Alloura had suffered terrible injuries, including two spinal fractures which occurred around the time of his death just before his death. The months leading up to the tragedy also saw another group of people injured in separate incidents. Alloura had fractures in three different bones: his ribs, his sternum and his manubrium. It is possible that blunt force trauma is the source of these injuries. Furthermore, the medical examiner said that although the cause of Alloura’s death was still unknown, it was plausible that she was the victim of homicide or an accident.
Alloura’s Facebook page was last updated with new content on July 26, 2017. It has had a rough time in the years leading up to this point. After Alloura’s mother died of cancer in February 2013, the young woman was eventually forced out of her residence and found herself on the streets. She stole from stores and communicated with other prostitutes in order to fund her sex work, and she had already served time in prison for both offences.
In August 2017, Alloura’s sister Michelle Wheeler reached out to Monica Forrester, someone who knew Alloura and had a good relationship with her. At first they thought Alloura was locked up somewhere, so Monica called the jail and asked for Wheeler, thinking that was Alloura’s last name. When she heard the answer was yes, Monica immediately suspected it was Alloura. But the 27-year-old didn’t have that surname. It was not until November that the family learned that Alloura had never been incarcerated.
Then Alloura’s father, Michael Wells, turned himself in to authorities on November 4, 2017, but claimed he was not taken seriously by the officer. Then he had to go to another police station and report him missing on November 6. Authorities eventually confirmed through DNA testing that the body found in August 2017 was Alloura’s. But when the body was found at the time, the homicide unit was not called and police did not issue a press release. Also, the local community center that was aware of the corpse did not make the information public.
Authorities then learned of Augustinus Balesdent, a man who was dating Alloura at the time and possibly the last person to see her alive. Relatives said their relationship was abusive and Alloura complained once he hit her with a brick. In addition, both were heavy drug users. Augustinus had a criminal history and was charged with breaking into a dwelling and threatening a transgender woman. He had been charged with sexual assault but pleaded guilty to uttering threats.
Augustinus told Alloura’s family that he was in prison around the time of his death, but records indicated that was untrue. Police considered him a person of interest, and although he was arrested in July 2019 and June 2020, he was not interviewed by police regarding Alloura’s case. An independent review of how Toronto police handled missing persons cases found systemic discrimination. The report added that some officers were misinformed or had stereotypical views about the LGBTQ community.
Death of Alloura Wells Bio
Alloura Wells, also known as Alloura Hennessy and Alloura Wheeler, was a mixed-race transgender woman who resided in Canada. She died in Toronto in June 2017. The following month, her body was found in a ravine. however, she was not reported missing until November 6, 2017, and her badly decomposed body was not identified until November 23. His body had been in the ravine for the previous month.
Wells’ death brought attention to a disenfranchised community and drew criticism of the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and the 519 Community Center for their misuse of information. Wells’ death also brought attention to a community that had previously been ignored. Both companies decided to conduct reviews, both internal and external, of their policies in response to allegations of discrimination against transgender people. A specialized Missing Persons Unit has been established by the Toronto Police Service in response to this investigation and a series of other cases involving missing persons in the Church and Wellesley neighborhood, known as the Gay Village of Toronto.
Unidentified body
On August 5, 2017, a woman named Rebecca Price and a friend found the body of a deceased woman at Rosedale Ravine Lands Park in central Toronto. She reported the incident to the Toronto Police Service (TPS), and officers from the 53rd Division and the coroner attended the scene to conduct an investigation. There was no identification on the body when it was discovered next to a tent which contained drug paraphernalia. The deceased was discovered wearing head-to-toe female attire, with a blonde wig and wallet; nonetheless, there were no signs of foul play anywhere else on the scene. Although the autopsy was unable to verify the race of the woman or the reason for her death, the coroner was able to determine that the woman had changed from male to female. The body had deteriorated considerably and the deceased was thought to have been in his grave for three to four weeks when he was discovered.
Despite the usual operating protocol, the TPS did not publish a press release when the body was discovered. Meaghan Gray, spokesperson for the police department, said no details could be shared and investigators were working to obtain additional information so they could appeal to the general public for help in identify the missing person.
Price had several conversations with a detective, but he finally acknowledged that they were making very little progress. After hearing from the police that the woman was a transgender person, Price searched the Internet for organizations that advocate for transgender people and contacted the 519 Community Center located in Church and Wellesley on August 17. On August 25, 519 staff informed Price that an investigation would be conducted and that they would follow up with the police. However, it was later discovered that the staff had only read press releases issued by the police, and when they discovered there was no mention of an unidentified body, they did not contacted neither the police nor any other agency.
Around mid-August, the TPS distributed a bulletin to the various other police services. The Ontario Provincial Police notified the Toronto Police Service that a transgender person from Northern Ontario was missing; however, the age of the missing transgender person did not match the age of the body found in Toronto. Another example from Alberta had a similar age range, but DNA testing determined it was not the same person.
