The 40-year-old woman found shot to death on a rural Surrey, B.C. road earlier this week was a troubled mother-of-four who was trying to turn her life around for the sake of her kids.
The lifeless bodies of Nicole Brochu and her roommate Brett Sheldon Lietz were found on Colebrook Road on Wednesday, the third and fourth people to be found dead in the area in the past six weeks.
The incidents have led Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts to call for increased patrols in the area and spurred a massive police investigation into what has quickly become a notorious area.
Adreana Brochu, Nicole’s daughter, said her mother’s life was one wrought with hardships and trouble.
“She’s been abused her whole life and nobody really treated her with any respect,” Adreana Brochu told CTV News in a telephone interview Thursday night.
“It’s not like my mom had it easy but she didn't have a place in her heart to hurt anybody.”
Brochu’s eldest daughter said her mother suffered from borderline personality disorder and fibromyalgia, a condition that causes chronic pain. She said her mother “always felt so alone.”
“Nobody told her what she was worth. Everybody told her what she couldn't do,” she said.
She said Brochu became addicted to crack cocaine and prescription drugs, but had recently gotten clean in the hopes of being reunited with her two youngest children, who are in foster care.
“I know my mom fought for her life,” Adreana Brochu said. “I know she did because she's a mother and she's a fighter.”
The police investigation into Brochu’s death continues, and there’s talk of adding video surveillance to the rural road.
Police have stepped up patrols and Brochu’s daughter is hoping they will soon be able to come up with answers about what happened to her mother.
“I want justice,” she said. “This isn’t right. You just don't go around and do that to people.”
