The boyfriend of a B.C. teen murdered this week was the last to hear from her and the first to find her lying fatally injured, the girl's friends and family say.
Eighteen-year-old Taylor Van Diest died in hospital Monday night after she was found unconscious and seriously hurt near the railroad tracks that run through Armstrong.
She was reported missing after she failed to show up for a rendezvous, and her family says that boyfriend Colton Luttmerding discovered her less than an hour later as she lay dying.
The slain teen's uncle Paul Albert says Luttmerding is not doing well.
"He's being supported well by his family and friends and that's all I can say," Albert told CTV News.
Friends say that Luttmerding received the last text message sent from Van Diest's phone.
"I think someone was following her, because the last text she sent her boyfriend was, ‘I'm being creeped,'" Chantal Cloutier said.
Luttmerding's mother says he is not ready to speak with the media.
Mounties investigating the killing have yet to identify a suspect, but issued more information Thursday about Van Diest's movements shortly before her death in an attempt to solicit more tips.
"She was dressed like a zombie on Halloween evening," RCMP spokesman Gord Molendyk said.
"She left her home in Armstrong about 5:50 p.m."
He says officers began their investigation by talking to those who spoke with Van Diest last, and are moving out from there.
Police also set up a roadblock late Thursday near the site where Van Diest was found, stopping all vehicles to ask people whether they saw anything on Halloween night.
In the meantime, Van Diest's family is left to watch and wait for a break in the case.
"Unless they find somebody, I mean, there's no closure for the family until that's done," Albert said.
"The justice system better not fail on this one. Everyone wants of piece of that person -- me too."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat
