Still waiting for closure
SLAIN TODDLER: Funeral plans on hold for Hailey’s grieving mom
CALGARY — The mom of a missing toddler found dead in Blairmore, Alta., says she’s angry she still can’t bury her child because authorities won’t release the two-year-old’s body.
Two weeks ago, the remains of Cheyenne Dunbar’s daughter were found in a rural area in the Crowsnest Pass, the day after the little girl’s father was discovered dead inside his Blairmore home.
While authorities have released the body of Terry Blanchette, Dunbar said she has been told she may have to wait months or as long as a year before little Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette can be laid to rest.
“The hardest part about all of this right now is we don’t know when she’ll be returned, we don’t know anything about that. We keep getting told, ‘Maybe next week, maybe next week,’” Dunbar told the Calgary Herald.
“It’s been a long waiting game and it’s getting harder and harder and harder to deal with.”
The search for Hailey, a brown haired girl with a penchant for scrunching up her nose when smiling, made headlines across the country after a cross-border Amber Alert was issued Sept. 14.
The alert ended the next day and Dunbar said she hasn’t “heard a single thing” from RCMP since early in the investigation. When she’s called to check in with officers assigned to the case, Dunbar said she’s been told “there’s nothing new.”
“It’s just really sad sitting through all of this and waiting and wanting answers, but not having the answers that we want,” she said.
The day after Hailey’s body was found, RCMP announced 22-yearold Derek Saretzky, a former friend of Dunbar’s, had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in relation to the deaths of Blanchette and Hailey. Saretzky is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday following several days spent in a Lethbridge hospital after he attempted to take his own life last week.
While Dunbar won’t be travelling to Lethbridge for what’s expected to be a brief court appearance, a friend will go on her behalf and Dunbar said she plans to attend future court dates to honour her little girl.
Dunbar has spent the past two weeks surrounded by family and friends in the Crowsnest Pass sharing memories and grieving, but she knows she’ll eventually have to return to her Edmonton home and job.
“Being alone is really hard,” she said.
With help from loved ones, the young woman has started planning a funeral for her daughter and Blanchette, but she said a service and the closure that may come with a funeral can’t take place until Hailey’s remains are released.
“It’s actually very hard. Right now, everything seems like it’s fake, like it’s not actually happening because I haven’t been able to go through with the funeral process. I’m not comprehending it as a life thing that’s actually going on,” Dunbar said.
She said she welcomes the community support, but is adamant online strangers not harass her family or Saretzky’s family — something she said has been happening.
“I feel bad for them, too,” she said of the family of the accused.