Sunshine on my shoulders

A long time favorite song. I used to sing along to it when my family was whole. I remember so well the day that Derik was arrested. I had been trying to keep him calm for a few weeks by telling him things like: "You were not there, they can't arrest you without some evidence. Don't worry!"

In retrospect, that was a very bad idea.

The two women were murdered on the Thanksgiving long weekend, October 5, 1990. There was a lot of press and media attention because of the size of the estate, over $3 million dollars. Since the husband of the younger victim was a close personal friend of the then Lieutenant Governor of BC, David Lam, there was considerable political pressure on the Delta Police to solve it fast and to leave Ralph Huenemann alone.

http://www.canadianinjustice.com/

I remember the day we learned about the events of October 5/6, 1990. On Sunday, October 7, 1990, Derik was getting ready for work at the local Kmart when a friend of his from school called him with a very strange request. Jack wanted to know if we had a subscription to the Times Colonist newspaper. We did not. Jack then explained that he had received a wierd call from Darren Huenemann telling him that he would not be at school on Tuesday, and that his family had made the front page.

Derik and Darren had known each other at school for a year or so, and had visited occasionally at each other's homes. I knew Darren somewhat. A very nice, usually well dressed young man, always polite to adults, crazy sense of humour. The boys shared an interest in games and music, so they would hang around together at school, sometimes.

My husband went down to the local 7/11 to get a copy of the paper. There it was on the front page. Two gastly murders. Derik was very upset. He told me that Darren must be devastated because he and his mom had a relationship like ours. She wanted to know where he was going, and kept an eye on his activities. He described the relationship between Darren and his mother as close, like ours. Then he cried.

Darren was not available when Derik called him to express his feelings, because he was in Tsawwassen with his step-father, Ralph.

I had met Darren's mother, Sharon, we got along well, but had only met a couple of times. I had never met his grandmother, Doris Leatherbarrow, although Darren had spoken often about her. Seems she had his life and education planned out for him.
All moot now of course! They seemed to be close, too, from what Darren said.

We wondered how it had all come about, but just wanted to try and help Darren if we could. The next couple of months were pretty awful!

This was the beginning of the rest of our lives, never to be the same again.
Checkout the website for more details, and I will be back!