'It's time to end our suffering': Parents of slain Ontario woman push for answers as police offer $100K for information
The parents of a young Ontario woman who was one of two people shot and killed earlier this year are making an emotional appeal for information as police offer up a $100,000 reward to help solve the case.
Juliana Pannunzio, 20, of Windsor, and Christine Crooks, 18, of Toronto died, on Jan. 19 while attending a birthday party at a short-term rental in Fort Erie.
Photos and memories are all Pannunzio’s mother and stepmother say they have left of their daughter. They both raised her and say they are heartbroken and have so many questions.
“[She was] kind, smart, funny, outgoing, fiery,” said mother Lisa Mulcaster. “To sit here and not know at this point, still, what happened to her, it eats you alive.”
“It changed our lives forever. It put us into a tailspin we can’t get out of,” said stepmother Shellie Pannunzio. “It’s so hard to move forward … to constantly wonder if there is something we could have done.”
Windsor resident Juliana Pannunzio and Toronto resident Christine Crooks were killed in the shooting.
The parents hope a $100,000 reward being offered by Niagara Regional Police Service [NRPS] leads to the arrest and conviction of the person, or persons, responsible, and will give way to the answers they so desperately crave.
“What we’re hoping for is that they are finally going to come forward, if it takes this increased financial incentive of $100,000 to be tipping point, enough is enough,” said Staff. Sgt Steve Magistrale with the NRPS major crime unit. “I’m not going to allow this level of violence to keep on occurring. This is such a tragedy.”
Police released a photo from the party Thursday, taken from surveillance footage inside the residence, and hope to learn more about the male and female unmasked guests.
(Courtesy of Niagara Regional Police)
Police say more than five people were at the party and believe they are from the Toronto area.
“We have spoken with some of them who have come forward, but there are others who still refused to cooperate,” Magistrale said. “What we’re really dealing with is a person who brings a gun to a birthday party and senselessly murders two girls at this party. So this is a person who deserves to be held accountable.”
Pannunzio’s parents say they don’t know the people their daughter was with the night she was killed.
“It’s time for someone to come forward. It’s time to speak your truth. It’s time to end our suffering,” said Shellie.
“There’s no more laughs, there’s no more kisses, hugs, there is nothing. So the void that she has left us, you can’t fill that, she was a person, she was a part of me, a part of our family and she’s gone. For what? Why?” said Mulcaster.
Police have not said if the individuals in the image released from the party are suspects in the double homicide.
Anyone with information about the murders is being asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.