‘She was one of the best people I knew:’ Friends of Brentwood Bay murder victim Emily Caruana remember her as hardworking and kind

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WATCH: Twenty-year old Emily Caruana is described by friends as one of the best people they knew and say she was hard working, driven and kind. Why was she was murdered in her grandmother’s Brentwood Bay home this weekend is a mystery to those who cared about her and at this point to police as well. Luisa Alvarez has the latest.

The murder that took place in a Brentwood Bay home on Meadowlark Lane early Saturday morning has left the community shaken and a family shattered.

Police officers still remain at the scene where twenty-year-old Emily Caruana was found murdered in her grandmother’s home.

READ MORE: ‘Violent struggle’ in Brentwood Bay leaves 1 dead, 2 in serious condition.

Her boyfriend, Justin Booth and her uncle, Halifax resident John Caruana, remain in the hospital recovering from the serious injuries they sustained in the attack on May 11th.

Emily’s friend since high school Isobel Ralph is still stunned at her death.

“It’s really tragic that something so violent and disgusting could happen to someone so amazing,” said Ralph.

READ MORE: First-degree murder charges laid against Nanaimo man in Brentwood Bay murder.

“She always thought so deeply and so passionately about the world and about people and she always had something intelligent to say and she always spoke to everyone with kindness and respect.”

Emily was described as kind, hard-working, and someone who knew exactly what she wanted out of life.

“She had always talked about becoming a teacher she loved kids,” said Ralph.

Emily graduated in 2016 from Earl Marriott Secondary School in Surrey and had been working hard to achieve her dream of becoming an elementary school teacher.

“To teach kids that was her passion that was her dream and she spent all this time at Douglas and she was going to go to UBC in the fall,” said Ralph.

According to her friends, the Surrey resident and her boyfriend were at her grandmother’s Brentwood Bay home with other family members for the Mother’s Day weekend.

Police say this was a targeted attack and not a random incident, but the link between the close-knit family and the 48-year-old Nanaimo man who has been charged with first-degree murder remains a mystery.

Police remain tight-lipped about any significant details in the case and they have not confirmed that Emily Caruana was the intended victim.

Alan Charles Chapman, the man charged in her murder is set to appear in court Wednesday, May 15.

She was going to do anything to follow her dreams and get the most out of life and to be a genuine joy and light to other people around her and the fact that that can’t happen it doesn’t feel fair,” said Ralph. 

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help the Caruana family in order to cover funeral costs for Emily and to help pay for their accommodations since they still do not have access to the family home.

Luisa AlvarezLuisa Alvarez

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