Churchgoers mourn death of two-year-old Chase Martens

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AUSTIN — On one of the saddest days in recent memory, residents here grieving the death of two-year-old Chase Martens took solace in their Christian faith at Easter Sunday church services and prayed for the little boy’s family.

More than 200 — including dozens of young children — packed the Austin Evangelical Fellowship for the holiest day in the church calendar that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“We are promised eternal life in heaven,” Jeff Rempel said after the upbeat service full of hope and songs sung by the children’s choir.

He has a son the same age as was Chase, whose body was found in a creek near his home Saturday afternoon. An autopsy was to be conducted, but there were no signs of foul play.

Rempel, a father of four, was one of hundreds of searchers who rallied to look for the child who had been missing from his yard since Tuesday evening.

“It’s sad to see he’s passed on,” Rempel said. “It’s comforting to know he’s found.”

As a parent, he said he cannot imagine what the parents are going through. What he and others can do is respond by caring for the grieving family, said Rempel, whose daughter is in the same class at school as one of Chase’s sisters.

“We’ll take them meals and do whatever we can,” he said.

“It’s so devastating,” said church member Martha Dyck, who has some idea of what Chase’s parents, Thomas Martens and Destiny Turner, are feeling.

“Twenty-seven years ago when our son died, our community was there,” she said after the service.

This past week, Dyck volunteered at the community hall, serving food to the more than 400 volunteers who showed up to help look for Chase.

“Everyone came,” said Dyck, holding back tears.

As a bereaved parent, she felt the overwhelming support of Austin-area residents.

“We have a lot of resources in this community,” Dyck said.

For the parents, having the local community and strangers from far away to help in their time of need would likely be a source of consolation, Dyck said. She noted volunteers from 15 fire departments went to Austin, 130 kilometres west of Winnipeg, to join the search.

“This past week has been an eventful one in our community with the Martens family and their son,” church elder Henry Peters said while delivering the Easter Sunday sermon.

The fellowship held a service Friday, praying for Chase’s family, who are not church members, and for answers to their missing child’s whereabouts, said Peters.

On Saturday, their prayer was answered. “It’s not the answer they wanted,” Peters said.

He and other church members are now praying for Chase’s bereaved family. “At least they know where their child is — with a “loving God,” Peters said.

Until the heartbreaking news was delivered by RCMP Saturday afternoon, members of the church fellowship were preparing food to serve Sunday to volunteers taking part in the search, Peters said.

“I really hoped he would be found.”

For Rempel, the death of little Chase is a reminder of everyone’s mortality.

“Life is short. Death can come quick,” he said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca