Alberta homicide victims’ families still hold out hope for answers

Reverend Lino Keror has been waiting nearly a year-and-a-half for justice following the death of his son in March 2016.

His son, 22-year-old Emmanuel Keror was gunned down in front of his Marlborough home in a shooting police believe was motivated by revenge. After that, Lino knew he had to act quickly.

“I sat down to talk to the young ones, including my children,” Lino said. “I said ‘look, your brother is now dead. He was killed in front of the house. Don’t retaliate. Leave it to God.’”

Two men were arrested not long after the killing but no charges were laid.

Now, nearly 17 months later, Lino still waits patiently for word that an arrest has been made. He said he’s received regular updates from detectives on the file but nothing concrete.

“I’m still looking forward with the hope that one day, it will be official and then I will know what happened, because people want to know what is next,” Lino explained.

If Wednesday’s suspicious death is officially deemed a homicide, there will be 18 murders so far in Calgary in 2017. To date, 11 families are still looking for answers.

The cases include the shooting death of 26-year-old Kyle Rowe in Riverbend in October 2016, Trisheena Simons’ deadly beating in February 2017 and a high profile quadruple- murder in the community of Sage Hill in July.

Last year, there were 30 homicides and nine are still unsolved.

“We wish we could get these answers to these families a lot sooner,” Calgary Police Service Duty Insp. Paul Wozney said. “Sometimes these investigations take a few hours, a few days and sometimes they take months and years.”

Outside the city, Alberta RCMP have investigated 33 homicides in 2017. That number is on track with the same time last year.

Included in those files, 25-year-old Victoria Levesque’s homicide in February.

Outside the city, Alberta RCMP have investigated 33 homicides in 2017. That number on track with the same time last year.

Included in those files, 25-year-old Victoria Levesque’s homicide in February.

The young mothers body was found 50 kilometres east of Calgary near the hamlet of Lyalta.

Investigators said Levesque lived a transient lifestyle and was no stranger to police. Months later, her friends fear the RCMP are not taking the case seriously.

“It’s frustrating, it makes me mad,” Victoria’s friend Ashley Lawrence said.

“It feels like they just wrote her off.”

But this week, RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters said Levesque’s homicide is far from a cold case.

“This is very much an active and ongoing investigation. At this point the investigation is focusing on everyone that was in her circle.”