‘Her boys have no mother’: Jessica Newman’s mom waits for answers

WATCH ABOVE: Family and friends of Jessica Newman prepare to celebrate her life as police continue efforts to make an arrest. Nancy Hixt reports.

CALGARY – The mother of Jessica Newman, whose body was found in a ditch in a rural area northeast of the city last week, is preparing to say goodbye to her daughter as police work to make an arrest in the case.

“There’s nothing we can do to fix it, we just have to now learn to accept this new reality,” said Rhonda Stewart.

The 24-year-old was missing for eight weeks before her body was found and was last seen alive at her workplace, the Water Grill. She leaves behind three young boys.

“Through counsellors we know this isn’t over for them…they will get to an age when they’re older and they’re going to know what happened,” said Stewart through tears. “Who…and why… they’re going to need further counseling.”

Police haven’t named any suspects or laid charges in her murder, but confirm persons of interest in the case include those who were the last to see her before she disappeared.

The homicide unit has searched the home Newman’s ex-boyfriend—the father of her child—and extended family lived in at the time of her disappearance March 10. Newman was scheduled to attend a custody hearing the next day.

“I believe if there’s somebody out there that’s done this and they are sorry, they’ll come clean,” said Stewart. “If they don’t come clean now, I believe they’re not sorry, then I think they should get the maximum sentence.”

Jessica’s mother has many questions about what happened to her daughter, but in the meantime, can only hope those responsible will be brought to justice soon.

“It’s really, really hard,” she said. “Yeah, they’re still eating dinner, having fun going to movies, doing whatever they want and they’ve taken that away from my daughter forever. But also, her boys have no mother forever.”

A celebration of life for Jessica will be held June 5 at the Pineridge Community Centre. A GoFundMe page has also been set up to help support Newman’s family.

With files from Erika Tucker