Brandy Vittrekwa memorial draws 100s in Whitehorse

To the sounds of hymns sung in Gwichin, more than 200 people filed past the casket of Brandy Vittrekwa, some stopping to exchange hugs, others weeping openly.

Many of the speakers were teens, struggling to make sense of the tragedy.

Thirteen-year-old Ekko Trociuk says her friends and family were shattered by the news.

“Got the bus home. My mom had heard about it. She was crying about it.”

Vittrekwa, 17, was found dead last week on a walking trail in McIntyre.

Her body will be flown to Inuvik this morning, and then travel to her home community of Fort McPherson, N.W.T., where a funeral will take place later this week.

As friends and family mourned, there remained many questions about the circumstances surrounding her death.

Karen Snowshoe is a friend of the Vittrekwa family.

“Right from day one, from the moment we first went to the crime scene with Brandy's mother,  we asked the head of the homicide team to please investigate this as thoroughly and carefully as you would any other homicidal death,” Snowshoe says.

“We would just ask that politically that anybody who can put on a little extra pressure as if this was the daughter of Stephen Harper.”

Snowshoe says the RCMP have been in constant contact with Brandy's family and are still asking for the public's help in the investigation of the girl's death.  

RCMP made an arrest late last week and are still asking the public for assistance in the case.