Two sisters, found dead in B.C. on Christmas

Girls, 4 and 6, were ‘full of energy, smiles and giggles’

OAK BAY, B.C.— Two young 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 spokesperson for the family, said the girls were delightful.

“They were just full of energy, full of smiles, full of giggles and very silly. Like most little girls their age, they liked to have lots of fun,” she said.

Chloe’s Grade 1 school photo taken this fall depicts a grinning blond girl dressed in a uniform and missing a front tooth. A photo of Aubrey shows a smiling, blue-eyed girl with long, blond hair, wearing a blue and green blouse.

Lees said she has been with the girls’ mother, Sarah Cotton, since the tragedy.

Cotton shared custody with her former common-law husband, Andrew Berry, Lees said. The pair had been estranged since 2013.

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 Wednesday that the man remains in hospital and is not in police custody. The team said earlier that it was called in to assist the Oak Bay Police Department with a double homicide.