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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Friends erect memorial to woman slain in T.O.
HER body is gone, but an 360-kilogram reminder of who she was now stands in Toronto.
Friends and family of a 23-year-old woman slain in Toronto late last year have built a memorial near where her body was discovered so she isn't forgotten. Robin Brideau, 32, of Toronto, said building a giant stone memorial for his slain friend, Leanne Freeman, has been a labour of love.
The memorial is close to where Freeman's injured body was found in November 2011, after she was shot in the head. Brideau said he wants others to remember Freeman, who moved to Toronto shortly before her death and also had ties to Winnipeg and Thunder Bay.
"Somebody needed to get it done," said Brideau.
The memorial is located on a roadside near the waterfront east of downtown. It's about one metre tall and two metres long.
The value of the granite memorial is more than $30,000, thanks to hand-engraving, which was donated.
Brideau said he was angered by reports his friend was involved in prostitution, something he said is inaccurate.
He said he met Freeman in 2009 by chance, and he gave her a place to stay at a business he co-owned when he found out she was homeless.
Freeman struggled with addiction, he said, and people who cared about her wanted her to recover and make sure she was properly fed.
Police have charged Joseph Beauregard, 32, with first-degree murder in Freeman's death. John Ash, 23, was charged with accessory after the fact.
gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 11, 2012 B2
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