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Electronic billboard keeps attention on teenager’s unsolved murder

It’ll be eight years in July since Delores Brown disappeared from Penelakut Island
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Billboard sign south of Duncan seeks information about what happened to Delores Brown. (Photo by Don Bodger)

Every avenue is being pursued to bring whoever’s responsible for the death of Delores (Deedee) Brown to justice.

A new electronic billboard south of Duncan on the Trans-Canada Highway calls on anyone with information to come forward.

Brown was reported missing from her home on Penelakut Island on July 27, 2015. Her body was found three weeks later on Aug. 19, 2015 near Norway Island.

Related story: Tips still being sought in Penelakut Island woman’s death six years later

Investigators immediately determined Brown’s death as a homicide. There still has been no arrest in the case.

The billboard campaign was launched under the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls umbrella in an attempt to solve some long-standing crimes.

Family members of Brown’s arranged for the electronic sign. Brown’s aunt Donna M. Brown of Penelakut Island didn’t know about it until her grandchild spotted the sign while they were shopping one day at the Old Farm Market outside of Duncan, but she’s glad it’s there to bring more attention to the case that will soon be stretching into eight years.

The sign is located almost directly across the highway from the market.

“It’s so long ago and we still haven’t got a clue,” said Donna.

“Such a beautiful girl,” she added of her niece. “It’s just sad when I think about it. She was very quiet and shy.

“Deedee lived with me when she was a little girl till she was 15 or 16.”

Along with her siblings, she then returned to live with her mother.

Donna said Deedee never had a boyfriend in her life.

It’s been a long and painful process for the family to find answers to what happened to Deedee, but they’re not giving up hope.

“We’ve got to keep it out there,” said Donna. “Someone will say something soon. Hopefully something will click in.”

Deedee was just 19 years old when she died. She had apparently been out with friends the night of July 27, 2015 at a beach on the northeast side of Penelakut Island, but never returned home.

Related story: Seven years since Brown’s murder without an arrest

Anyone with information can call the Ladysmith RCMP at 250-245-2215 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) to remain anonymous.


@chemainusnews
don.bodger@chemainusvalleycourier.ca

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