Manitoba·NewA man who lived in the same Winnipeg home as a three-month-old girl who died with meth in her bloodstream in 2022 described scenes of chaos, violence and frequent drug use leading up to the infant’s death, as he testified at the trial for the baby’s mother on Wednesday.Man who lived in same home says baby’s skin was ‘greyish purple’ when she became unresponsiveCaitlyn Gowriluk · CBC News · Posted: Sep 03, 2025 7:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 22 minutes agoAlison Muise is charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life, after her unresponsive infant daughter was rushed to hospital and died in February 2022. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)A man who lived in the same Winnipeg home as a three-month-old girl who died with meth in her bloodstream in 2022 described scenes of chaos, violence and frequent drug use leading up to the infant’s death, as he testified at the trial for the baby’s mother on Wednesday.”That whole house was a travesty,” David Schindel told Manitoba provincial court Judge Michelle Bright during the first day of the trial for Alison Muise, who’s charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life after her unresponsive daughter was rushed to hospital and died in February 2022. Schindel said use of methamphetamine and other drugs at the home was common among the baby’s parents, himself and others, and on one occasion he had to help someone who had overdosed in the home. He said he had also found weapons lying around — including a knife he said he once discovered in a baby crib.While the behaviour of people in the home changed “for a brief period” after the baby was born, he said it soon went back to normal, with people coming and going and doing drugs.”I would say there was no dramatic, lasting change,” Schindel said.The baby’s father, Christopher Mattern, previously pleaded guilty to the same charge as Muise faces and was sentenced last month to 21 months time served, plus two years of probation. The infant can’t be identified because of a publication ban.Court heard during Mattern’s sentencing that while toxicology reports found meth in the baby’s bloodstream, an autopsy listed her cause of death as undetermined. There was evidence the baby was born with respiratory issues and had caught COVID-19 during her first few weeks of life. An unsafe sleep environment was also noted as a condition that may have contributed to her death, prosecutors said at the time.Schindel said Wednesday he still remembers coming upstairs from the basement on the day the baby became unresponsive and finding the infant’s father crouched over her on the living room floor. He said her skin was “greyish purple” and she wasn’t moving.Schindel said the baby’s father “was screaming and wailing and crying, and Alison was upstairs on the third floor, doing the same thing but running through the house.””I was stunned by what I was seeing. I just didn’t process it all right away. But I also realized that nobody was calling paramedics,” he said, adding he immediately called 911.Muise sat quietly in the gallery behind her lawyers on Wednesday, sometimes writing things in a notebook and other times leaning forward as Schindel testified. Defence lawyer Tom Rees at times pressed Schindel about details of his testimony, including his ability to recall details about what happened more than three years ago at a time he was frequently using drugs.In response, Schindel said while he sometimes struggled with dates and times, his recollection of what happened was strong.”I couldn’t tell you what [the baby] was wearing, but I can tell you … the look of her when she was on the floor. I know I made the 911 call. I know that I waited for the first responders out front,” he said. “Those parts of it I remember quite well.”Muise’s three-day trial is scheduled to continue Thursday.ABOUT THE AUTHORCaitlyn Gowriluk has been writing for CBC Manitoba since 2019. Her work has also appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, and in 2021 she was part of an award-winning team recognized by the Radio Television Digital News Association for its breaking news coverage of COVID-19 vaccines. Get in touch with her at caitlyn.gowriluk@cbc.ca.Follow Caitlyn Gowriluk on X
Witness describes home where baby died with meth in bloodstream as ‘a travesty’
