Dawn Cherise Coage was born a month premature on the 18th of April 1974, she weighed a mere 5lbs 8oz.

At the age of three she could read and write the words - Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Auntie, Uncle and I love you. She was generous to a fault throughout her short life, always thinking of others first. At the age of twelve, Dawn was given money to spend (on herself) at her school's craft fair (four of her mother's friends were visiting that day), when Dawn returned she was bearing gifts for her mother, sister and her mother's friends, each gift perfect for each individual. She bought nothing for herself.

Dawn had sparkling blue eyes, a great sense of humor and loved to make people laugh. She made friends easily and knew all kinds of people, some good, some not, but she found good in everyone. In school she was the self -appointed defender of the underdog. She befriended those considered to be 'geeks' and because of her popularity, the geeks quickly became accepted. She had a special way with people.

At the age of seventeen, Dawn started modeling at small shows in the malls, on the runway is where she excelled. Just before Christmas, in 1993 she was offered a chance to go to Japan, to model, that was one of the happiest days of her life. Dawn was to sign the contract the first week of January but, fate had other plans.

January 4th, 1994 was the first day, of the end of Dawn's life. She was in the back seat of a car, her friend Charmaine, in the front passenger seat and their friend Paul at the wheel. They were all drunk. Paul was speeding. He lost control of the car and slammed into a guardrail, killing Charmaine and breaking Dawn's neck. Dawn spent weeks in the hospital recovering and six weeks in a neck brace, only to find out that her neck had not healed. She was put back into the hospital where, doctors fused a piece of her hip bone to her neck which meant, another 8 weeks in the neck brace.

Paul, the driver that awful night, was charged and found guilty of 'driving under the influence' and 'reckless driving', he received 4 years. Paul was also driving an uninsured vehicle, Dawn and Charmaine's family sued, it was believed that Dawn would receive over 125,000.00 for her injuries.

Dawn was haunted by nightmares of that horrible night, over and over again she would see Charmaine desperately gasping for her last breath. Night after night she relived it all.

At the end of 1994, Dawn and her Aunt took a trip to Vancouver BC, who knew that the weekend trip would lead to a road of desperation and self destruction. Dawn and her Aunt fell in love with Vancouver and shortly after returning home they packed up and moved there. Dawn was running from her nightmares and memories, believing that a new city would help put it all behind her. She was in constant pain and paranoid, that if she turned her head too fast, it would break off. She lost all self confidence. Her eyes were no longer alive. Her demeanor disintegrated.

Dawn met a man there

Terry Ostertag, 40 years old, a neighbor.

They became friends, she felt comfortable talking to him, one day too comfortable and she told him of her pending lawsuit and the amount she was to receive. Terry grew horns. That same day he told her that he had something that would take away all her nightmares and give her a restful sleep. He pumped heroin into her. Dawn, scared and hysterical called home to her mother,

"I hate him" she cried.

"Who Dawn who do you hate?" asked her mother.

"Terry, I hate Terry...he stuck a needle in me".

Her mother became frantic "What kind of a needle Dawn, what did he give you?"

"Heroin he stuck heroin in me". Dawn screamed.

"Oh my God, Dawn listen to me, I'm going to buy you an airline ticket, you get Aunty to drive you to the airport and you come home."

"I'm so scared" Dawn cried

"It's going to be OK Dawn, you just come home and everything will be OK, I love you Dawn."

Dawn didn't take that flight, she assured her family that all was well and she would be fine, she would never see Terry again. All was not well and she did see him again.

Dawn moved in with Terry and immediately became a reclusive heroin addict. Her entire personality changed, she lied to her family and denied her addiction. When her parents tried to warn her about Terry, and his motives for keeping her high, she became defensive "Why do you think he can't love me for me?" she'd argue.

Allen and Helen Coage (Dawns parents), met with Dawn's lawyer and asked him to stall the settlement process as long as possible, in order to get Dawn away from Terry. The lawyer promised to do his best but, had to give her money if she demanded he do so.

Dawn's contact with her family became less frequent. At one point, after not hearing from her for a couple of weeks, Helen called the Vancouver police. She told them of her fear that Terry would kill her daughter for the insurance settlement. The police went to Terry's apartment and then a Constable called back

"Mrs. Coage, there was no sign of your daughter in that apartment. In fact there's no indication that she was ever there."

Helen became hysterical "What do you mean no indication of ever being there?"

"Mrs. Coage" the Constable said "I mean the place is empty, they've moved. I met your daughter once, she's a sweet girl and I know Ostertag, he's a piece of shit. If Dawn were my daughter I would do anything and I mean anything to get her away from that scum."

The Constable promised to call if he tracked Dawn and Terry down. The most horrid thoughts ran through Helen's mind - he killed Dawn and dumped her somewhere... Two days of hell went by and then Dawn called. She was in Edmonton, just a three hour drive from home. She promised to come home in a few days and she did.

Allen and Helen took Dawn to a rehabilitation clinic, she ran away after only a few days. The Coage's called the police in Edmonton, at first they seemed disinterested until the pending insurance settlement amount was disclosed. The police checked out Ostertag and came up with an overstuffed file, they said they'd been after him for 15 years but could never pin anything on him. Two other girls that he had been close to had both died of drug overdoses. One undercover cop told the Coage's to kill Terry, that he would look the other way and make sure no one would investigate.

Dawn and Terry remained in Edmonton (Dawn's two Aunts, cousins and Grandmother lived there) and Dawn sunk deeper. She committed crimes, theft, robbery, assault, forging prescriptions and the final straw, trafficking to an undercover cop. She was arrested and then released with a court date. She didn't show up for court so the charge of failing to appear was added. Allen and Helen went to Edmonton for one of the court dates that Dawn failed to appear at, they went to the police station and pleaded with the police to go and pick Dawn up and arrest her. They gave the police an address where Dawn could be found, the response of the police was "We don't go looking for them (people who fail to appear) even though there's an outstanding warrant. We usually get them when they commit a traffic offense."

Dawn didn't drive or have a drivers license

The Coage's supplied the police with papers Dawn had left at their house on her last visit home, telephone, cell and pager numbers, addresses, names, drug exchange meeting places and code words, then they left to find their daughter.

Dawn was found by her parents and taken home to Calgary, again she was placed in rehab and again she escaped. A few months later Dawn was caught shoplifting and because of her outstanding warrants, put in jail to await trail.

While incarcerated, she began to look at her life. During visits, from family members, she apologized for making everyone worry, she was getting help for her addiction and feeling good again. Dawn found out that Terry was an informant for the police, she made plans to meet with a new criminal lawyer (her current on was one of Terry's lifelong friends). Dawn told Terry that she wanted the money back that she loaned him (close to 20,000.00, an advance from her settlement). Terry told her that because they lived together, he was entitled to half of her total settlement. Dawn's parents assured her that Terry would not get another dime.

Dawn's 24th birthday was behind bars.

On Thursday, May 21 1998, Dawn was released on 5,000.00 bail. The conditions of her bail were no drugs and no contact with Terry. No one from her family knew that she was out until they showed up for her court date, on Tuesday May 26th. Dawn's Grandmother and two Aunts were in court, they were stunned when Dawn walk into the room through the public entrance instead of the prisoners entrance. Terry was with her. Dawn went to use the washroom, when she returned to the courtroom, she was as high as a kite. One of her Aunts went to the washroom and found a needle, still containing a small amount of liquid. She took it to the police. Dawn's Aunt Angela, two police officers, the prosecutor, Dawn and Dawn's lawyer went into a private room. Angela insisted that the police check Dawn's purse. Inside the purse they found two rocks and some powder (heroin). Angela demanded that Dawn be arrested for bail violations - the drugs and Terry. The police refused to arrest Dawn and the prosecutor refused to mention any of it to the Judge. Angela became irate

"If you don't put Dawn back in jail, the next time you see her, she'll be in a body bag."

Those words predicted that very outcome.

Angela immediately called Helen at work and told her of the events in the courtroom. Dawn had given Angela a telephone number where she could be reached and Helen immediately called Dawn. The conversation between mother and daughter was a tearful one on both ends. Helen begged Dawn to come home, enough was enough and Dawn had to stop the drugs. She told Dawn she couldn't take it anymore, it was tearing her up. Dawn agreed and said that she would call back in ten minutes as someone was knocking at her door. That was the last conversation any family member had with Dawn. Three days later Dawn was dead.

On May 29th, Dawn overdosed in room 241 of the Algonquin Motor Lodge in Edmonton. Terry was in the room with her. She was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance at 11:00 PM. The doctors couldn't resuscitate her. She was pronounced dead at 12:24 am, May 30th.

The word on the street was, "Dawn's boyfriend (Terry) O/D her because she demanded he pay her back the money she'd loaned him".

Her note book confirmed an appointment for June 2nd with a new lawyer, and that she had made arrangements to enter a drug treatment center on June 3rd (one where she couldn't come and go as she pleased). She didn't get to keep those appointments. Her funeral was on June 3rd.

It was discovered after her death that the very day Dawn was released on bail, she had gone to a hospital emergency room to get help. She thought she was dying. Terry showed up and took her out of the hospital before a doctor could look at her.

A beautiful, loving, giving soul is gone.

And scum of the earth, Terry Ostertag - is still out there somewhere...