Shiloh and Keziah Johnston, Coquitlam sisters, died 10 days apart
Relatives of two B.C. sisters who died within 10 days of each other are devastated, says Janica Lucas, a cousin of Shiloh and Keziah Johnston.
Shiloh, 22, from Coquitlam, was struck and killed in a vehicle collision while out for a walk near the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) on Feb. 17, Burnaby RCMP confirm.
Ten days earlier, her younger sister and roommate, Keziah, died of undisclosed causes, according to posts on Shiloh's Facebook page.
Lucas told CBC News that relatives are having a hard time coping with the losses that came so close together.
"It was hard enough losing one of the sisters," she said. "We were trying to deal with that and figure out how to cope. It's heartbreaking."
Lucas's mother has travelled to Mexico to break the news of Shiloh's death to her sister, Jacquie Johnston, the mother of the dead girls. She had gone there to grieve the loss of Keziah. The two women are expected to fly home this week.
A GoFundMe.com web page aims to raise money for a memorial bench for the sisters. The page shows a picture of the two girls smiling and says, "Two beautiful sisters are no longer with us."
Family members are now planning a memorial for both sisters.
Meanwhile, RCMP are still looking for witnesses to the crash that killed Shiloh.
She was killed while on her lunch break from her job at Centura Tile Vancouver.
Sgt. Annie Linteau said the police investigation has determined a white Infiniti travelling east on Canada Way collided with a grey Volkswagen. After the crash, the Infiniti skidded along the centre median, crossed two lanes of traffic, hit a power pole and then struck Shiloh.
The young woman had just returned to work after taking a week off to grieve her sister's death and plan a memorial for later this month.
"She was simply out for a lunchtime walk on a beautiful spring-like day in Burnaby when she was the victim of a terrible automobile accident on Canada Way," said one social media commenter.
Police want to talk to the drivers of a red vehicle seen leaving the northwest BCIT parking lot and a black pickup truck seen travelling eastbound on Canada Way around the time Shiloh was struck and killed, said Linteau.
