Two years after the body of a young woman was found at a Kelowna, B.C., park, police have yet to offer answers about how she met her end.
Austyn Godfrey‘s body was found at the Glenmore Dog Park Jan. 16, 2022 and very little has been released about the case in the years that have followed.
To make sure the 25-year-old Ontario woman is not forgotten and the investigation doesn’t grow cold, Kelowna resident Doreen Zyderveld-Hagel organized a vigil to coincide with the anniversary, though it was cancelled this week due to inclement weather.
She’s held two similar events for the young woman, first in the immediate aftermath of the discovery of her body and then a year later, and will reschedule this year’s for the spring.
“I was just was very appalled by the news when I read about her body being discovered in the dog park and it’s just a very disgusting thing to do to human beings, just dump them out there like garbage,” she said.
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“And I felt bad for her mother and family and so I decided to do a little service for her.”
Godfrey was originally from Kingston, Ont., and had been living in Western Canada for several years when she died.
When Zyderveld-Hagel read about Godfrey’s death, she held the vigil and through that connected with her mother, Michelle.
Through their back-and-forth emails since that time, she’s learned of Michelle’s anguish, that Austyn was her only daughter and that she was a “headstrong” young woman.
“She told me (Austyn) was a very generous child and helped out homeless people…. She had a love for children and wanted some of her own one day and loved pets,” Zyderveld-Hagel said.
“We’ve just related mother to mother. She’s in Ontario and Austyn died here in Kelowna, and I just thought that if that happened to one of my daughters or something, God forbid, I would certainly want somebody just reminding the public her death has not been solved.”
Zyderveld-Hagel said she’s happy to be a “voice for the voiceless” and will hold a vigil in Austyn’s honour this March.
“I have a lot of compassion for dear Austyn. She had so much potential and that was taken away from her. I just feel very bad for her that this had to happen to her and no human being deserves that,” she said.
Anyone with information can contact Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300 and refer to file 2022-3220.