For Jennifer Davies, it’s been seven agonizing months since her friend Brianna Lozano was murdered in Victoria, her body dumped near a popular park.
“I just fell to the ground and started crying so hard. I couldn’t believe it. It was just awful,” said Davies, recounting the moment she found out Lozano’s body was found.
Lozano’s friends knew her as Bree, describing her as a loving single mother and an artist who was kind-hearted and genuine.
“She would always be chopping up peppers and carrots and making snack plates and the kids would be dancing and having a blast,” said Davies, who said Bree and her daughter Meleya were like family, after meeting because Bree was actually dating her ex-boyfriend. “That’s the kind of woman she was.”
Bree’s body was found unresponsive around 6 a.m on March 3rd along Dallas Road.
“Recognizing her running shoes from underneath the tarp and the fact that she was literally dumped on the side of the road, there’s no way a human being can process that,” said Don Vaillancourt, who’d known Bree since he was 19, calling her the sister he never had.
Police deemed the 46-year-old’s death a homicide.
The last visible sign of the investigation was March 26, when a house at Fort and Foul Bay was searched by Vancouver Island’s Integrated Major Crimes Unit (VIIMCU).
During the raid, police put a man in handcuffs — that man, Bree’s friends say, was her boyfriend.
“There was definitely a history of violence in that relationship. He put her in the hospital twice,” said Vallaincourt.
“I tried to help her so many times. I think she was too proud to go into B.C. housing,” said Davies.
Seven months later, police still have not confirmed the identity of the man detained and they are unable to say what the man’s connection is to the case.
For friends, it’s been seven long months without any answers.
“Why isn’t anything being done about it? The message that they’re sending is that you can do this and get away with it,” said Vallaincourt.
“I feel that Bree has slipped through the cracks. I would like to see her be remembered and her murder be solved,” said Davies.
Her friends are now calling on police for an update.
VIIMCU was only able to tell CHEK News that the ‘investigation remains active and ongoing.’
“Anyone with information they feel offers something to the investigation is urged to call the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit information line at 250-380-6211,” said Sgt. Chris Manseau with the RCMP, spokesperson for VIIMCU.
Kori Sidaway
