Linda Williams planted an angel and Christmas ornaments at the memorial to her daughter Nellie Williams and son-in-law Fran Shurie in downtown Duncan on Wednesday.
Standing at the same place where they murdered, Williams marked the one-year anniversary of their deaths, which remain unsolved.
“It’s been a long road and I really miss her a lot,” said the Duncan resident.
On Christmas Eve 2019, 37-year-old Shurie and 29-year-old Williams were attacked and beaten in a park bordering Trunk Road just hours before they were supposed to see their kids.
“I don’t want to see that day,” said Williams. “But I have to because I still have to carry on,” she said
Nellie left behind five children when she died.
According to friends, the couple who had been living on the streets and were battling addiction had been planning to turn their lives around and get into recovery when they were killed.
“I think about them a lot,” said their friend, Teresa Joe.
Williams said the last time she saw the couple, they were beaming with excitement that they were about to see their daughter for a Christmas Day visit.
“That’s how they were feeling right and they were going this way and that was the end of it, right here,” she said referring to the site of their murders.
Meanwhile, the RCMP’s Vancouver Island Major Crimes Unit is appealing for anyone with information regarding the murders to come forward.
Linda Williams, left, planted an angel and Christmas ornaments at the memorial to her daughter Nellie Williams and son-in-law Fran Shurie in downtown Duncan on Wednesday. (CHEK News)
Skye Ryan
