'We love you Makayla': Friends and family celebrate life of homicide victim
Body of Makayla Chang, 16, recently found in Nanaimo after she was reported missing March 22
Friends and family of a teenager from Nanaimo, B.C., whose body was recently discovered gathered to commemorate her and express their concern about how little they know about her death.
They met at a waterfront memorial in Nanaimo on Saturday afternoon and said they're deeply troubled by the disappearance of 16-year-old Makayla Chang.
"It's almost as if she just walked down the sidewalk and [poof]. What happened?" asked Mary Nespit, Chang's great aunt.
Chang was last seen in Nanaimo on March 17. She was reported missing on March 22, and an exhaustive search for her followed.
Police interviewed a 53-year-old man as part of that search. They said he was not a suspect, but that Chang may have been with him.
On May 18, RCMP announced that her body had been found, but offered no other information other than to say that Chang's case was now a homicide and remained a priority.
On Saturday, those close to Chang gathered on a dock in Nanaimo to remember the teen as they wait on details of what happened to her.
"This is incredible," said Nespit. "I just wish I could have said goodbye to her. "
Crab dock in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nanaimo?src=hash">#Nanaimo</a> filled with family and friends of murder victim Makayla Chang for her memorial. <a href="https://twitter.com/CHEK_News">@CHEK_News</a> <a href="https://t.co/1dg3LG9cke">pic.twitter.com/1dg3LG9cke</a>
—@deanstoltzchek"I can't sleep," said Chang's friend April Schneider. "I try to go to sleep and I'm waking up thinking that she's going to come home."
"It's just a lot of not knowing and a lot of wishing we knew what happened," said Lily Morice, another friend of the teen.
"Today is for her. It's to show her we're here and that we love her so much and wish she was still here."
with files from Dean Stoltz.
