Stabbing victim remembered as 'jolly, very spontaneous' person

Savanah Morin

EDMONTON - A woman fatally stabbed last week at a downtown apartment will be remembered Monday at a funeral in her home community of Canoe Lake, Sask., friends say.
Savanah Morin, 20, died after she was taken to hospital around 2:30 a.m. Thursday from a suite on the 15th floor of the Wimbledon Apartments, 10140 113th St., according to police.
An autopsy confirmed she died from a stab wound.
“She was really beautiful, a full spirit,” Charise Watchmaker, 20, said Sunday.
Her brother dated Morin for about three years.
“She was just here. I was texting with her just before this happened.”
Morin had been living with Watchmaker’s family at a house in the Eastwood neighbourhood for several months.
About two days before she died, Morin moved out to stay with a cousin in Clareview, said Watchmaker, who doesn’t know why Morin was in the apartment suite where she was fatally injured.
“We all just got so close to her,” she said. “She left a lot of friends.”
Morin, the oldest of her siblings, was originally from Canoe Lake First Nation, about 440 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
Her mother lives in Saskatoon and her father died years ago, Watchmaker said.
Morin was raised in Edmonton by her aunt and was close with cousins she called her sisters.
She was excited to start dealing with the Distinctive Employment Counselling Services of Alberta (DECSA) to help find a job, and had interviews lined up this week, Watchmaker said.
DECSA helps people with employment barriers find paid work.
In addition to the Canoe Lake funeral, friends and family in Edmonton hope to organize a local memorial service, said Watchmaker’s mother Darlene, who also lived with Morin.
“That would be our chance to say goodbye ... It came as a shock. We were all so devastated when we heard about this,” Darlene said.
“She was just a very jolly, very spontaneous person. She was always on the go, very smiley. She was always helping around the house, doing chores. She loved cooking and she loved baking.”
An Edmonton man charged in connection with Morin’s death appeared in court Friday morning.
Dale Warren Swampy, 23, is charged with second-degree murder and possession of a weapon. He was taken into custody without incident on Thursday.
Police have indicated Morin and Swampy knew each other.
Charise said Swampy is the boyfriend of one of Morin’s closest friends.
Police say it appears alcohol was a factor in the killing.
Morin’s death marked the city’s fifth homicide of the year.