WARNING: This article contains graphic details that may disturb some readers.
The family of a man whose body was found east of Sault Ste. Marie earlier this month are remembering him as someone who had a good heart despite his many struggles.
In a release issued this week, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) identified the deceased as Corey Hynes, a 52-year-old man from Sudbury — more than two weeks after police responded to a report of a deceased person along P Line Road in Jocelyn Township, a small municipality located on St. Joseph Island, on the afternoon of Jan. 6.
A sacred fire was lit at the home of Hynes’ mother in Garden River First Nation, just days after members of his immediate family were made aware of his death, which police consider to be suspicious.
“I mean, he was the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back if he could,” said Hynes’ sister Tracey Boissoneau, speaking with SooToday Wednesday night. “He did have a good heart — he just had a bad drug problem.”
“He was a good guy who meant well all the time,” said his niece, Natasha, who could be heard in the background during the telephone interview.
Boissoneau says her brother, a former Garden River resident, spent “most of his adult life in jail,” before eventually entering rehab in order to get help with his drug problem.
“When he got out, they didn’t acclimate him to living outside. All he knew was jail,” she recalled. “When he came outside, he couldn’t handle it — so he did something to put him back in, because that’s all he knew.”
Her brother’s second stint in rehab unfolded in Sudbury. Boissoneau says three nurses from rehab travelled some three hours west to Garden River First Nation in order to pay their respects to the family while the sacred fire burned.
The nurses shared with Boissoneau that her brother had been living a drug-free life for the past year-and-a-half.
“He was turning his life around,” she said.
His brother, Clayton Hynes of Detroit, Mich., remembered him as someone who “always had your back,” and “always protected everyone he knew,” while speaking with SooToday Wednesday night.
But he also acknowledged that Corey “took the wrong path in life,” by getting into drugs.
“Corey had a big heart — he was just misled a lot, you know?” he said.
Clayton was tight with his brother. “But I couldn’t stand to watch him do drugs all the time — I had to distance myself,” he said.
Boissoneau also spoke of Clayton and Corey’s tight relationship.
“He always believed that Corey would turn his life around,” she said. “It looked like he was starting to — but then someone decided that he needed to die.”
Corey’s sister says the circumstances surrounding his body being found on St. Joseph Island remains a mystery to family members, whose last communication with Corey occurred around Christmas via FaceTime, a popular application used for video and audio calls.
“I want to believe that he was on his way to see us,” Boissoneau said. “But I don’t have any other explanation as to why he would be there.”
In a shocking revelation, Clayton said police informed family members that Corey was found on St. Joseph Island with “all these marks all over his neck” — a chilling detail that has led Clayton to believe that “someone choked him out,” prior to Corey’s body being discovered.
The OPP Crime Unit is continuing the investigation under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service.
While Corey’s death has been deemed suspicious by police, it remains unclear if it is being investigated as a homicide.
“There’s nothing I can do, you know? It’s all in the cops’ hands now,” Clayton said.
OPP has yet to respond to a request for comment made by SooToday Thursday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the East Algoma OPP at 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- 8477 (TIPS) or visit ontariocrimestoppers.ca where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.