Family of Colton Crowshoe says arrest in his homicide brought 'so much relief'

An arrest in the 2014 homicide of Colton Crowshoe in Calgary has brought up a lot of feelings for his family.

"There's so much relief we have gotten from this news, and we feel like a weight has lifted off our shoulders," said his cousin Hayley Starlight.

"But at the same time, this is just the beginning.… We're going to be reliving a lot of things that we have tried to heal from over the years. A lot of old wounds are going to reopen. A lot of questions are going to be answered. And those answers are probably going to be things we don't want to hear."

On Thursday, Calgary police said in a statement they had arrested a man without incident in connection to the homicide of the teenager and they were no longer looking for other suspects.

WATCH ABOVE | Hayley Starlight describes how she felt when she heard the news that charges had been laid in her cousin's death.

Police said they believe the accused knew Crowshoe and left with him from a party in northeast Calgary the night he disappeared.

Three weeks later, the teen's body was found in a water retention pond near Stoney Trail and 16th Avenue N.E. 

It's alleged that Crowshoe, who was 18 when he died, was killed and then his body was left in the water. 

In a statement on Friday, Calgary Police said Wiley Provost, 27, from Calgary was charged with one count of second-degree murder in the death of Crowshoe.

The arrest came a few weeks after Crowshoe's family held a joint news conference with police pleading for anyone with information to come forward.

'I was in shock'

For eight years, Crowshoe's family has been searching for answers surrounding his death.

In 2014, they spoke out against the police investigation, accusing police of not taking his disappearance seriously because he was a young Indigenous man who'd had interactions with authorities in the past.

After a 32-month investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) into police conduct, no charges were laid. However, it was discovered there were several problems with the investigation and many mistakes had been made.

Starlight told CBC News that getting the news about the arrest is a great step forward.

Up until now, Starlight said, she was starting to develop a sense of acceptance about not getting any answers about her cousin's death.

However, when she got the news that someone had been arrested from her mom and then a phone call from her grandma, it brought up a lot of emotion.

"[My grandma] called me in tears, saying they found somebody," said Starlight.

"I was in shock.… It's almost like it's happening all over again, like we're reliving everything that has happened these last eight years."

Starlight believes the family's persistence in keeping Crowshoe's story front of mind helped get them to this point.

"We made sure we used all of our effort as a family to make sure it was never put on the back burner like other cases. We knew that there was a stigma against Indigenous peoples and there is a habit of closing cases with no answers. And we wanted to make sure that never happened."

She hopes this new phase in the case will bring the family some closure.

"I think the closure for our family is going to bring a lot of ease, and I believe this will definitely allow Colton to rest in peace."

Future hope

Starlight said she and Crowshoe, who were the same age, were like "two peas in a pod" growing up.

She describes him as being loving, kind and respectful.

His cousin is hopeful this development in the case will bring some answers.

"It's going to open a lot of things we have tried to put behind us. And at the same time, I really, I am happy that we're going to find the answers we've been longing for for so long, despite how much it's going to hurt. This is what we needed for eight years."