REMEMBERING QUINN

Quinn Lorna-Kay Butt was five years old. She was a lively little girl with blonde hair, a big personality and a family and community that adored her. Those who knew Quinn remembered a child who could be both a tomboy and a girly girl, someone happy, healthy, boisterous and silly. Quinn was especially close to her mother, Andrea Gosse. She also had friends who loved her deeply. Years after Quinn's death, one little boy named Cole described her as his best friend and said that when he was younger, he had believed Quinn really was his sister. Those memories matter. Quinn's name became known across Newfoundland and Labrador because of the terrible circumstances of her death. But the people who actually knew her remembered something different. They remembered her voice. They remembered the funny things she said. They remembered her smile. They remembered their friend. They remembered Quinn.

QUINN’S STORY

Quinn was the daughter of Andrea Gosse and Trent Butt. By 2016, her parents were separated and going through a difficult divorce. Quinn spent time with both parents under a shared custody arrangement. There had also been conflict between the adults. Court records showed that Trent had previously faced three assault charges involving Andrea dating from 2013 and 2014. Those charges were ultimately dismissed. On Saturday, April 23, 2016, five year old Quinn was staying with her father at his home in Carbonear. That evening appeared outwardly ordinary. Trent prepared dinner. Quinn had a bath. They watched a movie together. When Quinn became tired, she went to bed. Sometime afterward, that ordinary evening became something very different. Evidence later presented at Trent's murder trial showed that Quinn's death had been contemplated in advance. Police recovered a handwritten letter from the home. In it, Trent blamed Andrea for what he was about to do and wrote about taking his daughter's life and his own. He acknowledged that he had been thinking about killing Quinn for some time. Quinn was killed inside her father's home. The exact medical mechanism of her death could not ultimately be determined because of the condition of her body following the fire. The province's chief medical examiner testified that Quinn died from undetermined injuries. After killing his daughter, Trent set the house on fire. At approximately 5:00 on the morning of April 24, neighbors awoke to the sounds of the fire and called 911. Firefighters and emergency responders rushed to the house. Trent was rescued alive. Quinn was found inside. She could not be saved. She had turned five only two months earlier.

WARNING SIGNS

Quinn's death occurred against the background of a volatile separation between her parents. Trent had previously been charged with three assaults involving Andrea in connection with incidents dating to 2013 and 2014, although those charges were dismissed. By April 2016, Andrea and Trent were separated and in the midst of divorce proceedings while sharing custody of Quinn. The evidence discovered after Quinn's death revealed something no one outside the home could fully know that night.

Her death was not an impulsive act conceived only moments before it happened. The handwritten letter recovered by investigators showed that Trent had contemplated killing his daughter before April 24. That history is important. But I have not found reliable evidence establishing that child protection authorities had received a specific report that Trent intended to harm Quinn or that an agency had an open child protection case and failed to intervene before her death. The danger ultimately came from the person Quinn should have been safest with. Her father.

JUSTICE FOR QUINN

Trent survived the fire. Investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Major Crime Unit, Harbour Grace Detachment and Forensic Identification Section conducted an extensive investigation into Quinn's death. Trent was arrested and charged with first degree murder and arson. Before trial, he pleaded guilty to arson. He maintained a not guilty plea to murdering Quinn. His murder trial began in March 2019. Among the evidence presented to the jury was the handwritten letter police recovered in which Trent blamed Andrea and acknowledged killing his daughter. On March 15, 2019, the jury found Trent guilty of first degree murder. The RCMP publicly announced the verdict that day, specifically identifying Quinn as his five year old daughter. First degree murder in Canada carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 25 years. Trent received that sentence. He was also sentenced to three years for arson, to be served concurrently.

Trent Butt

Relationship to Quinn: Father

Conviction(s): First degree murder; Arson

Sentence: Life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years; concurrent 3 year sentence for arson

FOREVER REMEMBERED

What happened to Quinn devastated far more than one family. Within days of her death, people across Newfoundland and Labrador began wearing pink and purple in her memory. Schools participated. Businesses participated. Members of the provincial House of Assembly wore the colors. Photographs spread under the message #LightItUpQuinn. A candlelight vigil was held. People who had never met Quinn cried for her. Her death had reached an entire province. But the people closest to Quinn did not need a newspaper story to tell them who had been lost. Her friend Cole remembered his best friend. Her aunt remembered the hole Quinn's death left in their family. And her mother remembered her daughter's voice and all of the funny things she used to say. Those are the pieces of Quinn that her father could not destroy. He could take her life. He could set fire to the home. But he could not erase five years of Quinn from the people who loved her. Quinn should have had a sixth birthday. She should have gone back to school. She should have continued being silly and loud and whatever combination of tomboy and girly girl she felt like being that particular day. Cole should have had years more with the little girl he once thought really was his sister. Andrea should have watched her daughter grow up instead of standing in a courtroom beside a board covered with photographs of the five years she was given with her. Quinn's life was short. Her impact was not. Years after her death, people in Newfoundland and Labrador still remembered the little girl whose name brought an entire community together. And now her name has a permanent place here too. Abuse Angels remembers Quinn Lorna-Kay Butt. Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.