Calgarians gathered at a vigil on Sunday evening to mourn the deaths of five-year-old Taliyah Marsman and her mother, Sara Baillie, who were murdered last week.
Advertisement
Bubbles floated into the air and sparklers crackled at a vigil for a slain Calgary woman and her daughter.
Her daughter, Taliyah Marsman, was abducted from the scene and an AMBER Alert was issued across the province.
Police found Taliyah’s body late Thursday in a rural area just east of Calgary.
Tanya Kruger, Taliyah’s godmother, said it was a fitting way to remember her friend, whom she met working at a Boston Pizza about a decade ago.
The organizers of the vigil turned the event into a celebration of two lives cut short.
The rain let up over Sandstone Park as hundreds gathered in memory of Baillie and her daughter.
“I don’t know how to make sense of this”, said Jenn Onavka, a close friend of Baillie’s since childhood.
Many tears were shared along with memories of a vibrant little girl and a hard-working mom.
“She was a tall baby”, he said.
“It’s hard for us to accept. Maybe there’ll never be answers”.
Onavka said the gathering was specifically to get away from that darkness – to celebrate the lives of her friend and her little girl and not glorify anything else.
“I’m really proud to see so many people that have come out from the community and just a lot of compassion that’s happening right now”, said Sue Coatham.
Advertisement
“It’s not fair and I can’t wrap my head around it, ” she said.
