Mark Chard, a local firefighter, community theatre actor and musician, leads the way to a serene spot not far from the heart of a small town, where his daughter Madison was found dead four years ago.
asserted
daughter → lead → town
The first time Mark visited this spot was days after the discovery of her body, accompanied by the lead Port Hope police detective probing Madison’s disappearance.
asserted
Mark → visit → disappearance
“He was afraid of what I might do to myself,” says Chard.
uncertain
Chard → say → myself
“But I wasn’t thinking that.”
asserted
I → think → that
The grieving father says he was looking to connect with his daughter somehow, when along came “a stupid giant bumblebee.
asserted
bumblebee → grieve → daughter
It kind of landed on me, and I thought it was her.”
asserted
it → land → me
A search party located Madison, 29, on May 19, 2022, a month after one of her last known messages — a late afternoon text exchange with her mother, Lori, who offered to arrange a ride home.
uncertain
who → locate → ride
The Chard family filed a missing person report, and searches ensued, including around the very area where her body was ultimately found.
asserted
body → file → area
The discovery finally came a day after Port Hope police floated the possibility in a news story that Madison had fallen prey to a human-trafficking operation.
asserted
Madison → come → operation
Madison was lying flat on her back, clothed for cool spring weather.
asserted
Madison → lie → weather
An autopsy and toxicology tests found she had died of hypothermia, with a lethal amount of fentanyl in her system, and some cocaine.
asserted
she → find → system
Four years on, a criminal investigation led by the Port Hope Police Service and directed by the Ontario Provincial Police is all but officially closed, leaving many questions unanswered and a family grappling with a grief that’s been compounded by the unknown.
asserted
that → lead → unknown
What happened to Madison?
asserted
What → happen → Madison
Did she die alone?
asserted
she → die → ?
Did police do enough to get to the bottom of it?
asserted
police → do → it
One story the family has heard is that Madison overdosed and the people with her panicked and put her in a freezer, and later moved the body.
asserted
people → hear → body
The Chard family believes people who use and sell illicit drugs know what happened.
asserted
what → believe → drugs
“Somebody knows stuff,” says Lori, who still gets asked in the grocery store if there’s anything new in the case.
asserted
who → know → case
The OPP, in a statement to the Star on behalf of the OPP and the Port Hope Police Service, “acknowledge and sympathize with Madison Chard’s family as they continue to grieve their loss.”
asserted
they → acknowledge → loss
The statement said every avenue of inquiry was “thoroughly examined,” but ultimately no evidence was established to suggest foul play.
The Chards, who believe the police investigation was inadequate, filed a formal police complaint about the investigation, but it has since been informally resolved, with an agreement that police will consider any new leads passed their way by the family.
A story now, the family believes, may be among the Chards’ best chances to surface new information.
uncertain
family → say → information
‘Stronger Than the Storm’
Madison had come back to live with her parents in the Chard family’s two-storey home on Ward Street with an ivy-covered front porch.
asserted
Madison → come → porch
She had a brief, bad marriage, and Madison had worked hard to overcome mental health and substance use problems.
asserted
Madison → have → health
Born and raised in Port Hope, along with her younger brother, Teigan, Madison’s ashes now rest on the mantel in the living room in an urn, behind a white butterfly light, overlooked by an angel statue.
asserted
ashes → bear → statue
As a kid, Madison — Madi to those who loved her, and there are many — adored dance and took ballet lessons, but also did karate and played soccer, with her father as coach in the Timbits league.
asserted
who → love → league
She was “right from the get go very outgoing and chatty and headstrong,” says Mark, and when brother Teigan came along, “she became a little mother to him.”
asserted
she → say → him
Madison was a “Swiftie,” and grew to love theatre and musicals through her father, beginning with his role in a production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
asserted
Madison → grow → Superstar
Madison went to every performance, sitting in the front row and learning the words to every song.
asserted
Madison → go → song
There were more productions, and Madison would hang out and eventually started filling in when people were sick.
asserted
people → be → ?
She also modelled from a very young age and was signed in her teens by an agent in New York.
asserted
She → model → York
It was fun — father and daughter spent a month there — but it “never came of anything,” says Lori.
asserted
Lori → spend → anything
Madison had to overcome a lot.
asserted
Madison → have → lot
There was a diagnosis in her teens of bipolar disorder — there was Madi A for “awesome” and Mabi B who was not, says Lori — and later a brief, bad marriage with an abusive, controlling partner, which her parents believe led to post-traumatic stress disorder and a heroin addiction.
asserted
parents → be → disorder
Madison would use cocaine when she was slipping to manage the urge for heroin, Lori says.
asserted
Lori → use → heroin
Madison sought treatment at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, and obtained a diploma from Durham College, where she studied criminal psychology and behaviour.
asserted
she → seek → psychology
She had a job at Giant Tiger, but was out of work when she went missing.
asserted
she → have → work
One thing you would not get from looking at Madison was that inside she lacked confidence, says Mark.
asserted
Mark → get → confidence
Among the tattoos Madison had was a replica of a wire-art tree pendant Mark had made for her, a rendering of a family tree.
asserted
Mark → have → tree
She had it done on the back of her left hand.
asserted
it → have → hand
“She used to say that the pain of getting a tattoo is better than, or masks, the pain that she felt in her heart, or in her existence,” Mark says.
asserted
Mark → use → existence
After her death, the family held fundraising events for Ontario Shores, using the family tree as a symbol of Madison’s life, along with the slogan “Stronger Than the Storm.”
asserted
family → hold → Storm
…and 78 more, not listed.
The Aporia
