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Mom of teenager who baked to death in Walmart oven describes horror of finding her body
A devastated mother has described the horrifying moment she discovered her teenage daughter’s body inside a bakery oven at a Walmart store.
As previously reported, Gursimran Kaur, 19, was found dead on October 19, 2024, inside a large commercial oven used to bake frozen bread.
The teenager had been working a shift at the store in Halifax, Nova Scotia, alongside her mother, Mandip Kaur, when the tragedy unfolded.
Nearly a year and a half later, the grieving mother says the family is still searching for answers about how their loved one ended up inside the oven.
Mother Recounts Discovering Daughter In The Oven
Mandip said she began to worry when she had not heard from her daughter for more than an hour during their shift.
Co-workers initially believed the teen may have been assisting a customer in the large store, but the situation escalated when another employee noticed leakage near the bakery oven.
Mandip rushed to the area and opened the oven door. "I opened the door and she was there," the mom said earlier this week, per Daily Mail. "I couldn’t handle myself. I was there on the floor with her for five or 10 minutes. I didn’t know what had happened."
According to Mandip, a black-brown liquid resembling tar was oozing from the commercial walk-in oven, which can reach temperatures of up to 400 degrees.
Her daughter’s body, found next to the baking racks, was charred beyond recognition. The liquid had come from the teen’s body.
Investigation Found No Foul Play
Police launched an investigation after officers responded to a report of a sudden death at the Walmart located at 6990 Mumford Road.
Officials conducted several interviews and reviewed surveillance footage during the investigation.
About a month after the horrific incident, Halifax Regional Police announced that the death had "been determined not to be suspicious" and that there was no evidence of foul play, per NBC News.
A separate investigation by Nova Scotia’s Department of Labor, Skills, and Immigration also found no workplace safety violations related to the tragedy. Officials said the oven was in good working condition.
Greg Hanna, Director of Communications for the Department of Labor, added that the oven "could be opened from the inside," and that there was no evidence of "violations of occupational health and safety laws [that] contributed to the death."
Family Still Searching For Answers
Despite the official conclusions, the family says they remain unsatisfied with the outcome of the investigations.
Kaur and her mother had moved from India to Canada three years earlier, and both worked at the store.
The teen was described by her mother as a happy young woman who loved music, makeup, and shopping for clothes.
Mandip said the two had spent the night before the tragedy laughing and celebrating with loved ones. "Does she look depressed? She was so happy," she said.
She also pointed to a package her daughter had ordered for herself that arrived after her death as another sign that the teen had not planned to take her own life.
Mandip said Gursimran had been the valedictorian of her class and hoped to study medicine at university to become a doctor. She was also close to her parents and shared a strong bond with her 12-year-old brother.
"After 18 months [of] investigation they are unable to discover what happened," Mandip said. "They couldn’t find any solid thing. They don’t know. They don’t have any proof. No solid results," adding: "We are not satisfied."
Following the incident, the Halifax Walmart closed for four months. Floral tributes were tied to a lamp post outside the store in memory of the teen.
When the store reopened, the bakery had been moved to another section of the building. The original ovens were replaced with smaller models that employees cannot enter, though it remains unclear whether a larger walk-in oven exists out of public view.