Earlier this week, Gabe Batstone was opening a special Christmas gift he’d ordered for his eight-year-old daughter Teagan.

Now he’s preparing for her funeral.

“We’ll never forget Teagan. She will be a part of us, this family, forever,” Batstone told CTV News in his first interview since learning of her death. “No one can take her away.”

The bright-faced little girl from Surrey, B.C. was found dead in the trunk of a car on Wednesday. Batstone’s ex-wife Lisa has since been charged with second-degree murder.

Batstone, who lives in Ottawa, said he’s been making regular trips to the bedroom he kept for Teagan, who lived with him, his current wife and their two boys for part of the year.

“I come in here every night and cry and grieve,” he said.

“She was an integral part of our family. She was not a broken child from a broken home. She was a loving, adorable, happy child who was the embodiment of what you would hope for when you have a child.”

Teagan had a playfulness that captivated complete strangers, her father said, but her defining quality was her kindness.

‘That was Teagan’

Batstone said his daughter’s personality is best summed up with a story that took place one Christmas morning.

After waking and getting the OK to run down to the tree, Teagan surprised her dad by sprinting right past the presents laid out for her.

She started rooting around the back of the tree before reappearing with something in her hands.

It was a present she couldn’t wait to give to one of her brothers.

“She didn’t even know what Santa had brought her yet,” her father said. “That was Teagan.”

Batstone said he last saw his daughter on Monday during one of his regular visits to B.C. He took her to the dentist then dropped her off at her Surrey elementary school.

“She kissed me in the lobby and I stalked her down the hall for a little bit and she walked into that classroom and I never saw her again,” he said, holding back tears.

Days later, while Batstone was opening Teagan’s present, he was contacted by police.

Her cause of death hasn’t been confirmed.

Police said an autopsy was completed this week but they’re waiting for further analysis.

Lisa Deanne Batstone appeared in court Thursday, and cried during her hearing. Her lawyer asked that she be seen by a doctor and psychiatrist while in custody.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Maria Weisgarber