The parents of one of two Metro Vancouver teenagers who died hours apart earlier this week went to the Richmond home where the girls had been partying in search of answers Friday.
At about 9 a.m. Tuesday, Richmond RCMP went to the home in the 4200-block of Smith Crescent to respond to a report of a girl in medical distress.
That girl, Martha Jackson Hernandez, 17, did not survive.
Martha's family said Friday they want to know who was at the house that night and what happened.
"I love my daughter so much. A piece of me has been taken away and I will never be happy," Martha's father, Enrique Hernandez, said Friday sobbing.
Just hours earlier, Martha's 16-year-old friend Kayla LaLonde was found in medical distress on a street in Burnaby.
She also did not survive.
The girls were friends and witnesses reported seeing them together the night before, RCMP officials have said.
Drugs and alcohol may have been factors in both deaths.
Martha's parents said Friday their daughter had had a tough year but seemed to be turning her life around.
It started with skipping school, shoplifting and lying. Then she disappeared for days on end.
"Our prayers were always this, ‘Please don't let our kids die," said Martha's stepmother, Connie Hernandez.
The parents turned to the Ministry of Children and Families for help.
But the girl only got into more trouble.
Recently, though, her life seemed to be turning around. Martha went into a new foster home and got paired with a new social worker.
Enrique Hernandez said he last saw his daughter on the weekend.
" ‘Keep calling me, wherever you are,'" he told her.
"I didn't know that was the last time I was going to see her."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Michele Brunoro
