W5: A mother vanishes from a psychiatric hospital in Ontario

Dawn Carisse went missing from the North Bay Psychiatric Hospital more than two decades ago. She vanished without a trace. Now a private investigator turned podcaster is finding new clues for her family.
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W5 is Canada’s most-watched investigative, current affairs and documentary program. Tackling major stories and investigations W5 is in its 51st season.

[@MBrunet796]

My Grandfather died there and I can tell you from private research they had exceptionally poor record keeping.

[@elainezito8500]

Could her mom and the other 5 missing people have died in the hospital and they lied and told everyone these folks escaped from the facility?

[@Daisy-hi4sg]

I was thinking something along those lines?

[@stephwiller9089]

Wouldn't be surprised.

[@theoriginaleb9616]

The fact that several other people have gone missing from there should be a big red flag.

[@katysummer9418]

Who knows how patients in that hospital were treated? She needed care but this kind of hospital was maybe not the right choice. Maybe somebody from that hospital has a dark secret or was acting inappropriate with patients.

[@Annie497]

Why was a woman with a brain injury be put into a psychiatric institution?!! I'm sure it was a lot of work for the husband, but that just doesn't seem like the right path of treatment for someone with a brain injury.

[@ellaella5537]

I guess they didn’t have homes for ppl with Alzheimer’s before? We just had to very reluctantly place my Godmother into one, it’s the only one there is in Qc city. She’s in her early 60s but she has a rare degenerative brain disease and it was the only option, as she needs constant supervision, but she still understands what’s going on and it feels wrong because she’s with very old ppl. It pretty much looks like a luxurious home for mentally ill ppl. I was shocked when social services recommended to have her placed for her own safety, I thought there were more options for home care, but there isn’t. We tried to keep her and it’s much harder than we thought. Not sure they had lots of treatment options for ppl with severe brain injuries in 1982 and mental institutions had ppl recover and leave, it’s not a place where you necessarily stay for years.

[@kathybrooks452]

I don't see why she was in that hospital other than the lack of family care from what other s say sounds like she did not belong to a mental hospital and if she is still alive sounds like she has enough since to serve? And if she's desist RIP 🙏 she should have been at home with her children 😢

[@aelwynwitch9460]

I said the same thing. Been for grippy sock vacations and psych wards are MORE traumatizing. And my visit was 2 years ago. I was put there bc apparently doctors thought I "had a stroke" as they told my partner. They had assumed I overused my clonazepam. Turned out I forgot to take it for a week and dissociated. So psych places will lie. As Dawn was Indigenous often Indigenous ppl were assumed to have problems due to addiction due to bigotry. So Indigenous ppl who might need a nursing home are put in psych hospitals.

[@stephanied9629]

I definitely think the psych hospital employee was involved

[@Viewer-qm3qx]

We all saw the way people got treated at their residential schools (all government ran, hired, trained, etc) So we know these people can possess the capability of committing crimes against humanity. This woman may have been more like a prisoner and her attempts to escape could have been attempts to survive. Her crime? An apparent brain injury.. And why so many other people went missing at THIS PARTICULAR institution is alarming and should be a cause of concern but instead we let old staff defend themselves.. Has anyone ever asked them directly if they had anything to do with her disappearance? Who was the investigators involved in investigating staff and this institution? There had to be several over the years. Who initially took on the case? Who did the initial questioning of staff? We should have heard from them first.. It sounds like a bunch of people making up excuses for the inexcusable!! They took on the responsibility of taking care of a patient and she went missing. So they blame the victim saying SHE RAN AWAY!! What was she running from??

[@stephwiller9089]

I remember this place from when I was a student at Nipissing University. Crazy to think it's gone now, probably for the best.

[@LoloO42]

I dont know. Sad story all around. Why would you dump a young Mom (your wife!) in some hospital and never bring your children to see her? Or even take her out for the day? Fishy.

[@Jenesaisquoi44]

Yeah sounds about right - it’s all about greed, money 💰 and sweeping dysfunction under the rug when it stains a family profile. 🤮 WIFT What’s in it for them? In high school I learned about people being locked up for rebelling or just poor behaviour and then harmed while locked up. I was threatened with it regularly - speak 🗣 even 1 word they would threaten. So i never did and just left the same day she said my way or get out - I said I didn’t know that was an option but I could be gone by noon; and I was. That was life growing up in Canada. BS.

[@Daisy-hi4sg]

Employee or employees had something to do with these people "vanishing" in my opinion

[@annmarie1689]

The investor woman said alot of nothing. I hope her daughter gets answers.

[@lorrainesavoie1394]

What are they waiting for, to dig around the grounds of that hospital ? What are they ( investigators / police ) hiding ? Why not investigate ( file ) of the person that drove patients to and from the hospital ? 6 person missing without a trace, vanishing through thin air, never to be heard from since day one of their maybe untimely death / escape. To whom have passed away, during those days at the hospital - may their soul R.I.P 🙏

[@jNeal-gj9iu]

Its obvious someone took her from that hospital.

[@bettydamnboop3030]

I want to understand why Dawn was placed in a psychiatric hospital . This doesn’t make sense to me because she was having trouble with every day things but I don’t think she should have been placed there.

[@user-gs1fg7tf8k]

Really want 2 move n2 Canada

[@Viewer-qm3qx]

We don't know if she actually escaped or if she ever made it out of the hospital. I keep hearing stories like this. The nurse could lie. People lie.

[@kimemerson4608]

Shes probably out there in the trees off the side of the road some where. It was hot that day they said.

[@starbright1256]

Sirry, doubt shes alive. She woukd if trued to find her children. She truly wanted out. She didvit. Goid fir her even thiugh it probably a sad ending. Rest in peace running wolf. xo

[@kimemerson4608]

This is good pod cast. But what about ground search for remains? And according to the group all Dawn's belongings was sent to her mother except for ID Card. Dawn had a lot of sibblings and not one could bring her into there home and care for her. Shame