The mother of a 16-year-old Alberta girl who was shot and killed in Grande Prairie over the weekend said her daughter was a loving person who would go out of her way to do anything for anyone.
“She was so beautiful inside and out,” Jennifer Zammit told 630 CHED on Thursday.
Zammit’s daughter, Hannah Sutton, was found dead Saturday morning inside a home in the area of 94 Avenue and 100 Street at around 10:30 a.m.
Justice Watt-Blais, of Grande Prairie, was arrested on Wednesday. He is charged with second-degree murder “in the death of his girlfriend,” RCMP said.
Zammit said Watt-Blais lived with her family in Grande Prairie for a couple of years, before they moved to Fort St. John, BC, where they currently live.
“She ended up falling in love with her brother’s best friend. He lived with us for two years, so they were close then. After we moved away and Justice left our house and went back to Grande Prairie, Hannah still had friends there.”
Zammit said her daughter would often travel back and forth to Grande Prairie to visit friends, which is what she was doing this past weekend. She said it’s hard for her to believe Watt-Blais had been charged.
Sutton was the middle of three siblings; her brothers are 10 and 19 years old. Her mom described her as a homebody who loved spending time with her two-year-old nephew and two dogs.
“Wherever she is, she’s upset that she’s not going to see her nephew grow up. She loved her nephew immensely.”
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Zammit’s daughter-in-law started a gofundme page to help with funeral costs. Zammit recently lost her job, but said she will donate any extra money to the SPCA and mental health supports.
Officers said four other males have been arrested in the investigation and charges are pending against them for “accessory after the fact to murder.”
Watt-Blais is in custody and is scheduled to appear in Grande Prairie provincial court on Jan. 3. Zammit said she will be there because she needs to find out what happened.
“I want to know which way it was because it will make me sick for the rest of my life to think the last thing my daughter ever saw was the man she was in love with holding a gun to her and pulling the trigger.”
The investigation is being conducted by the RCMP’s Major Crimes Unit from Edmonton, as well as forensic and general investigators from the Grande Prairie RCMP.
With files from Brad Wisker, 630 CHED.
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