She was “a beautiful angel,” and “a free spirit,” according to the posts that were pouring in from friends and neighbours on her Facebook page on Friday.
There were tributes in the non-virtual world, as well. Neighbours laid flowers at a makeshift memorial near the train tracks where the body of 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch was found earlier this week.
It’s rare for police to remain at a crime scene for more than 24 hours, but homicide investigators were still looking for clues in Surrey on Friday evening.
Vermeersch’s body was found near the 14600-block of 66th Avenue on Tuesday, and her death was deemed a homicide on Thursday. Since then, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team has been on the scene.
The death has prompted fear and anger in the Surrey community. Neighbours told CTV News they found the killing -- which police believe was random -- “absolutely horrifying.”
This incident comes after a series of violent crimes in the area, the most troubling of which was the beating death of hockey mom Julie Paskall outside a nearby arena.
Surrey city Coun. Barinder Rasode, who is widely expected to run for mayor of the city, is calling for additional community police officers immediately. Surrey has fewer officers per capita than many other cities.
“Not only do we have to get tough we have to get aggressive and enough is enough already,” Rasode said. “I think we've let the situation get out of hand and we need to do things differently.”
Police told CTV News on Friday that some tips have been coming in from the public, but they wouldn’t say the content of those tips. In the meantime, they are still looking for a man dressed in dark clothing who was seen leaving the area in a grey Dodge pickup truck.
The man was reportedly seen crossing the tracks northbound less than an hour before Vermeersh’s body was found. The truck reportedly drove westbound on 66th Avenue before doing a U-turn, then heading eastbound toward 148th Street.
