The family of Tanner Krupa is asking for help from the public regarding his unsolved homicide, exactly six years after his tragic death.
“We have not one idea what happened to our boy and it’s six years. And we really want to know what happened to him and for somebody that knows something to please come forward and give us those answers,” said Kim Krupa, Tanner’s mother.
On Aug. 20, 2017, at 5 a.m., the Surrey RCMP responded to a report of a disturbance in the 6900-block of 127A Street in Surrey.
When police arrived on the scene, officers found a 19-year old man, the victim of a stabbing, unresponsive. Sadly, there was nothing they could do; the man had died.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) took over the investigation and began working with the Surrey RCMP, the BC Coroner’s Service, and the Integrated Forensic Identification Section (IFIS).
Tanner Krupa of Edmonton was a recent graduate of the city’s Archbishop O’Leary High School, and had begun working as a directional driller, while saving money for university where he planned to study kinesiology.
Having been offered work in British Columbia, Tanner travelled to Surrey to work for a company laying fibre-optic lines. It was three days into his second deployment that Tanner’s life was tragically cut short.
Now, six years later, Kim Krupa is still looking for answers.
“It’s something you can never in your whole life imagine, that you would (be) burying a 19-year-old child,” said Krupa.
Tanner’s family and friends created a website to tell his story in the hopes that someone with information about his murder would come forward. The website can be found at www.whathappenedtotanner.com.
“We started a charity, every year we go down to the less fortunate in Edmonton and we hand out ‘Tanner’s Totes.’ We put toiletries, blankets, hats, mitts — anything that they might need throughout the year,” said Krupa.
“I just want to carry Tanner’s legacy on and do good and try and love and try and be compassionate and try and give back.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the IHIT information line at 1-877-551- IHIT (4448), or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.