Dozens rallied outside the headquarters of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) in Surrey Sunday, calling for action as the suspected killers of their loved ones walk free.
More than four years ago, Nikki Goodrick knew something was wrong when her brother, Devon, didn’t wish her mom a happy birthday. When the radio silence continued from hours to days, she called the police, pleading with them to help her search.
But Nikki tells CityNews, “They brushed me off in the most important hours, days, weeks of an investigation.”
Homicide detectives did eventually begin an investigation into Devon’s disappearance, but not before Nikki did a lot of legwork.
“I went and found everyone that was with my brother, and interrogated them myself — gathered a lot of evidence,” said Nikki.
“It’s hard to do that yourself, and it’s traumatizing to learn details of your loved one’s murder by yourself. But I’m not going to sit on my hands. My brother would do the exact same thing for me.”
She says she’s even gotten a confession out of the person who disposed of her brother’s body, but she claims police have yet to take a statement from them.
Devon’s body still hasn’t been found.
“We can’t even grieve because the wound’s still open. There’s no justice. There’s no place that I can go see my brother when I’m sad.”
Nicholas Goodrick, father of Nikki and Devon, says the family has been suffering every day.
“There is no accountability,” said Nicholas.
The Goodricks are one of several families who gathered at the BC RCMP “E” Division building on Green Timbers Way, out of which IHIT, the largest homicide unit in Canada, operates.
With the faces of victims printed on signs, the ralliers called for justice reform.
After her daughter was killed over three years ago, organizer Christine Angelis says she’s been forced to turn her pain into a fight for justice, because the system has “completely failed.”
Since then, she says she has come to understand the nuances of the legal system that make it difficult to put away offenders.
“It’s really, really hard for IHIT to meet the standards of the Crown in the Province of B.C. It’s a ‘substantial likelihood of conviction’ — everywhere else, it’s ‘reasonable likelihood,’” Angelis explained.
As investigations drag on, the group called for bail reform, stiffer sentencing for violent crimes, and demanded clearer communication from authorities.
“We are already going through the worst pain in the world that anybody could ever imagine. We should not be kept in the dark and have zero communication. No answer is not knowing where our cases stand. It’s not fair to the families,” said Angelis.
Above all, those in attendance, including Nicholas Goodrick, want the closure that only justice can bring.
“There’s people that know of what happened to my son, and they’re torturing us daily by not coming forward with the information.”