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“We were friends:” Mom of murdered Alberta toddler breaks down after arrest

Hailey’s mother, Cheyenne Dunbar, said she and Derek Saretzky were friends until about three years ago. He’s facing two charges of first degree murder, and one charge of committing an indignity to a body.

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“That means if you were to touch or move a body after it was deceased, that could be part of that charge”, Franks said.

“It’s bad to think that somebody had the mindset to be so terrifying”, she said.

A man has been charged in the death of a 2-year-old Canadian girl who was the subject of an AMBER Alert that extended into Montana earlier this week.

Hailey’s body was found in a rural area near Blairmore on Tuesday afternoon during a police search based on information received in their efforts to locate her.

“Police have been speaking with her and obviously, at this point in time, followup investigation is going to be done on all information we receive”.

He worked as a cook in a restaurant and had many criminal convictions between 2010 and 2012 for issues such as failing to appear in court, failing to stop his vehicle, evading police, minor theft and assault.

While the arrest of the young man in Blairmore is a positive step in the investigation, Hamori says it’s still tough knowing they haven’t found Hailey.

Officers concluded Blanchette had been killed and his daughter had been abducted, setting off a desperate cross-border Amber Alert.

Blanchette has been described by friends and family as a devoted single father.

Dunbar says Saretzky used to be friends, but they hadn’t spoken in years, reports the Calgary Herald. She said both she and police are baffled by the killings.

She said she and Blanchette met through a mutual friend and started dating.

Derek Saretzky’s sister-in-law added a post late Wednesday night that expressed her grief, asking those on social media to be mindful of the pain she and her family are experiencing. “I really don’t know what else it say, it’s just heartbreaking, devastating news to hear this”.

When Dunbar last spoke to Blanchette on September 9, the pair talked about their daughter and made arrangements for Hailey’s next trip to Edmonton.

Evidence of the community’s empathy could be found Wednesday evening when Blanchette’s friends returned to his duplex to collect his cats and tidy the residence ahead of his mother’s arrival from the United States. “I am going to miss her smile”.

“We’re a small community, as you know, and we all look after our neighbours”. “Our community is totally heartbroken, and we’ll stand behind the families 100 per cent”.

A woman identified as Hailey’s maternal grandmother, Terry-Lynn Dunbar, posted a statement from the family on Facebook thanking people for their support.

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But after Hailey was born, there were no more court appearances.

Blairmore looks to begin the healing process