*Warning: this story contains graphic details about a murder.
Ten years ago Langford teen Kimberly Proctor was brutally murdered by two of her peers. And while her family still grieves her loss, her killers will soon be eligible for parole.
“Time went by really quick that’s for sure,” said Jo-Anne Landolt, Proctor’s aunt. “[The family] is just reflecting on what we’ve all kind of gone through and will continue to go through, of course, with parole hearings.”
In March 2010, 16-year-old Kruse Wellwood and 17-year-old Cameron Moffat bound, sexually assaulted, choked, gagged and placed Proctor in a freezer. The next day, they transported her body to a location in a duffel bag to burn it.
May marks 10 years since their incarceration and means they’re eligible to apply for parole. The pair were handed adult sentences of life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years, for the premeditated rape and murder of the 18-year-old Proctor.
Last year, Moffat waived his day parole hearing, while Wellwood was denied day parole in August. Landolt said Proctor’s family has been told Moffat waived his parole hearing again but that Wellwood hasn’t yet, although there is no scheduled date for the hearing.
READ ALSO: Man who killed Langford teen attended her memorial service, demonstrates little remors
Since institutions may be closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Landolt said the family has had to write up victim impact statements.
“There’s so much news going on in the world and then you’ve got something that’s affected you for the last 10 years … it’s definitely difficult,” Landolt said. “I just want people to remember what happened to Kimmy and continue to support us.”
In a Facebook post, Landolt said the family has tried to do their best to carry on, but said what happened to Proctor is “like a disease, a festering mass of emotion.”
A document regarding the Parole Board of Canada’s denial of Wellwood’s request for day parole in August said the board noted his progress but still had many concerns. The document said that while Wellwood accepted responsibility for Proctor’s murder, his comments during the hearing were inconsistent with that.
“Your description of the index offence was cold and clinical, and belied any true sense of remorse or accountability,” the document notes. “You lured, raped and killed the victim in a brutal and cruel way, and you then mutilated her and abandoned her burned body. And while discussing such a horrific crime, you presented with no apparent emotion.”
Another detail from the document said Wellwood attended Proctor’s memorial service where police saw him skipping as he walked back to his car after the service. It also says Wellwood and Moffat contacted another female, asking her to come over, after sexually assaulting and killing Proctor. The document says there is speculation that the pair of killers were looking for another victim.
READ ALSO: Proctor family continues to fight for change nine years after horrific Langford murder
Since Proctor’s murder, Landolt said the family has been very active trying to make changes in school districts as well as the provincial and federal governments.
Last year, B.C. Liberal mental health and addictions critic Jane Thorntwaite reintroduced the Safe Care Act, also known as Kimberly’s Law, into the legislature. Kimberly’s Law says schools should implement threat assessment protocols to identify students or others who have made threats or have engaged in threatening behaviour. It also says youths identified in the threat assessment protocol should be given mandatory counseling and treatment. Another proposal in the law says violent young offenders aged 16 or older convicted of first or second-degree murder should be transferred to adult court.
“I hope you will remember Kimmy, remember our family and I hope you have it in your heart to understand why we, the Proctor family, want change and measures put in place to prevent what happened to Kimmy and our family from happening to others,” Landolt said.
