Burnaby RCMP investigate vandalism at memorial for homicide victims

Burnaby RCMP are investigating after a memorial outside Alpha Secondary for two 2022 homicide victims was vandalized.

Christine Angelis, the mother of Kiesha Garie, says she had maintained the site for years, regularly mowing the grass and caring for messages and mementos left by relatives and friends. When she arrived last weekend, she said the memorial had been destroyed, with glass scattered around it and keepsakes thrown into a nearby dumpster.

The memorial stands where Garie and her fiancé, Umair Kasim, were found dead in 2022. Their deaths were ruled a double homicide, and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the case remains under active investigation nearly four years later.

Angelis said she had received a letter before the vandalism demanding that she take down the memorial. She has since rebuilt it.

Police are asking witnesses or anyone with information that could identify those responsible to come forward. Garie’s longtime friend Danika Hetman said community members had valued the care put into the memorial and were distressed by its destruction.