Seven years of tides have washed into Penelakut Island, over the beach that Dee Dee Brown vanished from on the night of July 27, 2015, as her family waits for the person who killed her, to be caught.
“She’s our loved one, she’s our sister and she’s not to be thrown away,” said close family friend Connie Crocker.
The 19-year-old disappeared on a hot summer night after a boat full of travellers from off Island arrived for an Indigenous games event on Penelakut Island. Brown was at a beach with friends but never made it home.
Searchers combed for weeks afterward, and their worst fears were realized when Brown was found murdered, her body washing up on nearby Norway Island on Aug. 19, 2015.
“The whole Island they’re haunted by this. There’s a feeling of unrest,” said Crocker. “It’s hard to go on without the closure.”
Crocker helped start a highway billboard campaign for Brown, appealing for help solving the teen’s murder, as the case grew colder each anniversary. As the teen’s mother struggles daily with this loss.
“And she has a hard time coping and it’s left unresolved and there’s no justice for her daughter. If you lose a daughter it’s the most heart-wrenching, heartbreaking thing you will ever go through,” said Crocker.
According to the Vancouver Island Major Crimes Unit, Dee Dee Brown’s murder is still an open and active investigation and seven years later investigators are still following up leads.
Yet RCMP offered no update on her case.
“It just doesn’t seem like enough. More needs to happen,” said Crocker.
As seven years without an arrest settles in. Anyone with information about the murder of Dee Dee Brown is urged to contact RCMP.
Skye Ryan
