Ashley Simpson: All we can do is pray

John Simpson is one of the kindest, most caring, people I know.

But he's just about at the end of his rope.

It's been nearly three years come April since his daughter Ashley disappeared after having a fight with her boyfriend. His families still has no answers, or closure.

There haven't been answers, either, for the families of the other women who have gone missing and are now presumed to be murdered in the area of Enderby/Salmon Arm. 

It's cold comfort for the families that the justice system released Curtis Sagomeon, under a probation order, in December even though he was found guilty of three charges of uttering threats, intentionally discharging a firearm and terrorizing a woman near his farm, which is a short distance away from where Ashley and the other women disappeared.

And it chills John to the bone that a body was found near Sagomeon's farm last year. 

The RCMP have reassured the public that there is nothing new to see here, that these cases were unrelated to the murders in Salmon Arm, but the cops admit they still have no leads in the cases, either. 

John often feels like he's teetering on a cliff, untethered, his body blowing with the wind every which way. While Ashley has many supporters, who often donate to fundraisers and continue to pray for her, his family has had little support from governments who are quick to compensate other victims. 

They are left on their own to wonder: who will be next?

John told his followers last month that he thinks it's time to hold a memorial for Ashley, to pick a spot where the family can visit and congregate to celebrate her young life. She was only in her early thirties when she went missing, a young woman full of piss and vinegar, who was not afraid of taking on the world. Now her memory has begun to fade, and the family desperately wants not to give up, to keep up the pressure on law enforcement, and hopefully, help prevent other women from meeting a similar fate.

So John and the family fundraise, and donate money to help other victims. John helped start Wings of Mercy, which is a not for profit group that uses drone technology to help search for people who have disappeared in the bush and in areas with difficult terrain. 

John does a lot for other people, but sometimes he wonders: who's there to help him and his family? 

Since Ashley disappeared, the family has become financially devastated.

John and his wife Cindy work the ships on the Welland Canal as cooks but John finds it harder and harder to focus on work. He's in his 60s, and in declining health. 

At first, he got help from Employment Insurance which provides some coverage for families whose loved ones have met with foul play. But he got cut off because he took time off to travel to B.C. from his home in Niagara-on-the-Lake to look for Ashley. 

So he's left to scrape by and try to keep it together for his wife, daughters and grandkids. 

Last week, his depression resurfaced, triggered by the loss of the families on the Ukrainian airliner shot down over Iran. He feels badly for the victims and families but wonders why they get compensation when families like his own receive no support.

"That’s tragic for sure, and I noticed a big push for compensation and closure for family and friends," he wrote on his Facebook site. "I wish the government would act the same when something tragic happens in their own country where there are literally thousands of missing and presumed murdered. Where is the help for them? Where is the closure for them?

"This country seems to act like there is no emergency when it comes to the missing and murdered in this country. The government hides the facts from the public, they seem to do nothing in finding these people or the ones doing the dirty deeds. I wonder if the rest of the world knows that there are serial killers out there in this country?"

British Columbia has become hotbed for violent crime against women and yet no extra law enforcement resources are being allocated to stop the killing spree, solve the cold cases, and to help find the missing. He vows never to give up in his fight for better law enforcement resources, and more support for victims of violent crime. 

"It’s a shame that there are killers out there roaming the streets and they do very little in finding them. I am looking at taking the government of BC and Canada to court to get action on all fronts in this Canadian tragedy."

He worries that the killers are becoming more emboldened, because it's so easy to get away with murder in B.C.

"Who will be next? There will be more. Right now, all we can do is pray for those who are killed everyday because of lack of action from our government and police forces."