Eight days after the RCMP reached out to the public to ask for tips as they investigate the death of a 34-year-old Edmonton woman, Myrah Whitstone’s family and members of the city’s Indigenous community held a vigil Thursday night to remember her and to plead for information about what happened to her.
“It’s really hard to be here and I would really like to know and get answers to what happened to him so my family… can continue finishing our grieving,” Myrah’s mother, Alvina Whitstone, told the crowd that had gather at the corner of 96 Street and 101A Avenue. “Myrah’s known a lot of friends. He was the most caring person you’d ever know.
“He’d help you any way he can.”
The body of Whitstone, a transgender woman, was found on March 24 near Range Road 213 north of Highway 16. At the time, Strathcona County RCMP reported that a man had died.
Police said Whitstone was last seen the day before her body was discovered at about 12:45 a.m. They said she was interacting with a man in a light-coloured Dodge Journey which was last seen travelling west on 118 Avenue in Edmonton.
The cause of Whitstone’s death has not been determined and police said they are waiting for toxicology results from the Edmonton medical examiner’s office.
READ MORE: Strathcona County RCMP continue investigation into Edmonton woman’s death
Watch below: (From June 20, 2018) Myrah (Murray) Whitstone’s body was found in a ditch in Strathcona County, and three months later RCMP are still working to find out what happened.
“Myrah — Murray — was my last son I lost. I’ve lost two sons before,” a soft-spoken Alvina Whitstone told the people who had gathered for the vigil. “It was hard and it’s still hard today.
“Sometimes it’s kind of hard to move on. I’ve got three other kids and my grandsons that keep me going. I would just like to find out what happened to my son, Myrah, my son Murray.”
View photos of Thursday night’s vigil in the gallery below.
Rhonda Spence, the president of the Creating Hope Society of Alberta — an organization working towards reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal caregivers — also spoke at the vigil and said Whitstone’s death has had an impact on the city’s Indigenous community.
“It hits the community hard because there’s still so many families out there whose loved ones are still missing, and (while) some of the cases have come to light… many family members… feel that nothing is being done about it.”
Spence said it’s important people speak up for people like Whitstone and “not let these cases go unsolved.”
READ MORE: Autopsy doesn’t provide answers in Strathcona County death
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“We come together to have these vigils and support the missing and murdered women and girls — also the boys and men, because the boys and men have gone missing as well — and just to bring that awareness and bring that attention to the public because this is somebody’s life that was lost, so it’s important that we speak up and not let these cases go unsolved.”
While speaking to the crowd, Spence made note of Whitstone being a transgender woman and said the community doesn’t “judge people” like her.
“Two-spirited people are part of our community even from generations and generations ago,” she said. “We’ve welcomed them into our communities and our homes and there was no judgment.”
Police have released photos of Whitstone and the vehicle believed to be connected to the investigation. You can view those photos in the gallery below.
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