Sisters found dead in home remembered as ‘lots of fun’
OAK BAY, B.C. •Twoyoung sisters found dead in a Victoria-area home on Christmas Day are being remembered as beautiful and energetic children.
A family member and a friend have identified the girls as Aubrey Berry, 4, and her sister Chloe Berry, 6.
Police have said officers were called to a home in Oak Bay on Monday evening where the bodies of two children were discovered.
Trisha Lees, a friend and spokeswoman for the family, said the girls were delightful. “They were just full of energy, full of smiles, full of giggles and very silly,” she said.
Chloe’s Grade 1 school photo depicts a grinning blond girl missing a front tooth. A photo of Aubrey shows a smiling, blue-eyed girl with long, blond hair.
Lees said Aubrey was in preschool and had recently started transitioning from a toddler into a child.
“She was silly. She was lots of fun. She was always laughing, she had a huge smile,” she said.
The children would often visit the beach with their mother, Sarah Cotton, Lees said.
“Seeing the three of them together was an absolute delight. Sarah was just one of those mothers who was born to be a mother and did an exceptionally great job with them in every possible way.”
Cotton shared custody with her former common-law husband, Andrew Berry, Lees said. The pair had been estranged since 2013, she said.
Lees said Cotton called police on Christmas Day after their father didn’t return the girls as scheduled.
Police have said an injured man, whose condition has not been disclosed, was found inside the home and taken to hospital.
The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit said on Tuesday that it was called in to assist the Oak Bay police with a double homicide.