‘I’m trying to be strong right now’: fiancé of woman found dead in God’s Lake FN

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This article was published 12/11/2015 (3777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Terry White held his little daughter in his arms and tilted his face skyward as the drums began to beat for his fiancé, Krystal Andrews, whose body was found on a northern Manitoba First Nation earlier this week.

The death of Andrews, 23, has been declared suspicious by RCMP.

White brought his daughter, Khloe, 3, and son Rashad, 5, to Winnipeg from God’s Lake First Nation to mourn the loss of their mother while surrounded by family, friends and other supporters at a candlelight vigil Thursday night on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature.

The Keewatin Otchitchak (Northern Crane) Traditional Women Singers played the drum and sang several traditional songs while asking those in attendance to continue to support Krystal’s family and other families of missing and murdered indigenous women.

He said he and Krystal had been together for nine years and were planning to get married next year. When he found out she had died, he said he immediately thought of their children.

“The kids just came to my mind. My babies just came to my mind,” White said, his voice breaking with emotion. His little daughter began to sob quietly and he pulled her closer to his face.

“I just wanted to go get her (Krystal) and give her a kiss.”

Andrews never made it home after going to a social on Saturday night. Her body was found Monday in an isolated location in God’s Lake, a fly-in community 550 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. RCMP had not made any arrests as of Thursday night.

“It’s so hard but I’m trying to be strong right now. I feel a lot better with all these people supporting us,” White said. “I’m handling it good right now, just trying to keep things the same (for their children) at home.”

Amid the powerful song of the Northern Crane singers, people held candles and held hands in a large circle around Andrews’ family members.

At one point, White was brought to his knees by his grief and sank to the ground near the drumming circle beside Krystal’s mother, Beverley Andrews, already on the ground and covering her face as she mourned her daughter. Andrews comforted White, her daughter’s partner of nine years, patting his back as he curled up on the ground.

The vigil took place in front of Brenda Osborne’s camp in front of the building — a camp she’s maintained to draw attention to the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered indigenous women. She still doesn’t know what happened to her daughter, Claudette, who disappeared in 2008 at the age of 21.

Osborne was asked to speak but became too emotional and had to decline. She was found a chair near the drumming circle.

One of the Keewatin Otchitchak singers said a prayer, speaking through a megaphone to the crowd.

“I pray the grandmothers and grandfathers will watch over this family and all the families (of those) that are missing or have been taken,” she said. “I pray that peace comes. That justice comes. That we find those ones that have taken our brothers and sisters from us, too early. This is a beautiful, young mother… I cannot express how I feel today knowing that a mother here has lost her daughter.”

Several people from the crowd stepped forward to offer a song, a prayer or words of comfort.

One man, who identified himself only as Waylon, thanked everyone for coming and said he came because “no one should make this walk alone.”

“Too may of our women and girls are going missing and being killed. It has to stop,” Waylon said.

A 2013 report by Maryanne Pearce called An Awkward Silence: Missing And Murdered Vulnerable Women And The Canadian Justice System reported that in Manitoba, there have been 83 aboriginal women murdered over the last 50 years. About a third of the murders are unsolved. In Manitoba as of 2013, there were 28 women missing, 18 of those in the last decade. Those numbers are higher now as they don’t include anyone else since 2013.

White said Krystal had graduated in May, earning her high school diploma through adult education.

“I was so proud of her,” White said. “She was a loving and caring woman. She makes people laugh. She was a very smart girl, she was an honour student. She was a good mother.”

White said he has no new information from the RCMP about Krystal’s death or what happened that night as she tried to make her way home.

“I believe it was someone from the community. Her body was found near a vehicle at the isolated area so that’s what I believe,” White said.

“Just get the guy in jail. It will make me and my family feel a little better.”

An RCMP spokesman told the Free Press Thursday night no new information could be released at this time but that the investigation into Andrews’ death continues.

This is the second suspicious death of a young woman in God’s Lake in recent years.

In January 2013, Leah Anderson, 15, was on her way to the local arena to go skating when she vanished. Her remains were found days later near an isolated snowmobile trail. Initial reports suggested her body had been mauled by animals but RCMP later ruled her death a homicide. There have been no arrests in her homicide.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca