B.C. teen CJ Fowler's boyfriend arrested in her slaying
The former boyfriend of CJ Fowler has been arrested in Kelowna, B.C., and is facing charges relating to her death, Kamloops RCMP said Sunday.
At a press conference, RCMP announced that 22-year-old Damien Lawrence Taylor had been arrested Friday on a warrant issued Thursday for the murder of Fowler.
Summer Star Elizabeth Krista-Lee Fowler, also known CJ, a 16-year-old girl from the Gitanmaax First Nation Band near Terrace, was found dead in Kamloops on Dec. 5, 2012.
A man walking his dog discovered her body late in the morning in a ravine in an undeveloped area near Guerin Creek.
A year after her death, no arrests had been made, and members of the Gitanmaax First Nation issued a plea for more information from the public to help find Fowler's killer.
Chief Councillor Julie Morrison said Fowler, who was based in Terrace at the time, was thought to have been in Kamloops visiting friends.
Supt. Brad Mueller said Taylor and Fowler were both from the Terrace area, and that they had travelled to Kamloops together to visit friends.
"Mr. Taylor and Ms. Fowler were known to each other and were considered to be in a dating relationship," Mueller said at the press conference.
Surveillance footage showed that Fowler left Royal Inland Hospital in the early hours of Dec. 5, 2012. Police said at the time that she may have been walking up Columbia Street to the Greyhound station, intending to catch a bus home.
At Sunday's announcement in Kamloops, RCMP said Taylor and Fowler were dating at the time of her death.
Taylor remains in police custody and was scheduled to appear in Kamloops Provincial Court on Monday.
Since Fowler's death, the RCMP have faced criticism from many who said the force wasn't doing enough to further the investigation. Mueller said the case was always a priority, and that police kept the family informed.
"Throughout this investigation, the RCMP has remained committed to finding the truth about what happened to CJ Fowler", he said Sunday.
"And our investigators have never lost sight of that priority. We have kept CJ's family a part of this investigation, so they always knew we were there … continuously working quietly, methodically, and painstakingly behind the scenes."
