Search for missing Calgary girl Taliyah Marsman stirs up pain of Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette's killing
Crowsnest Pass residents still reeling from toddler's death as they pray for Calgary girl's safe return
FOR THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS, SEE: Calgary family, police 'devastated' as charges laid in deaths of Taliyah Marsman, mother
A Calgary family's public anguish as police search for missing five-year-old Taliyah Marsman is churning up painful memories for another southern Alberta family.
An Amber Alert has been in effect for the five-year-old since early Tuesday. It came hours after she was discovered missing and her mother, Sara Baillie, was found dead in their Panorama Hills home.
Police want to speak with a family seen talking with the missing girl and her mother at a restaurant over the weekend, potentially the last time Marsman was seen.
- Police narrow focus on suspects in Calgary girl's abduction
- 'I just want my baby girl back': Abducted Calgary girl's father begs for her return
- We love her, we miss her, and we want her back': Abducted Calgary girl's family tearfully urges her return
It's been nearly 10 months since Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, 2, was abducted from her home in the Crowsnest Pass and killed following the death of her dad, 27-year-old Terry Blanchette.
Hailey's disappearance also triggered an Amber Alert.
News broke that her body had been found on the second day of an extensive search just as friends and family gathered in Blairmore, Alta., for a vigil.
Derek Saretzky, 23, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of the toddler and her father. His trial is set for May 2017.
Close family friend Corette Harrington says it was heartbreaking to hear the news in Calgary about Taliyah's abduction.
"I know what it's like to be in their shoes. And you hang on to all hope and you wait for that minute when she's going to walk through that door," she said.
Prayers for Taliyah
"For us the outcome wasn't good and I just pray that they get to celebrate their homecoming."
Harrington's oldest daughter, Rebecca — who was Hailey's godmother — said the hardest part was not knowing what happened.
"Who and why I think was my hardest thing. Who would take a two-and-a-half-year-old girl and who would do something like that to her dad?" she said.
"And to this day I can't comprehend it through my mind."
Previously affected families are instantly transported back in time every time another child goes missing, says Calgary-based Missing Children Society of Canada CEO Amanda Pick.
"It opens up the emotions — all of them — like immediately," she said.
"We don't use the word closure, because we understand that it's a lifelong experience for every family and every community that's affected by a missing child."
Pick says communities reliving a missing child experience should not bottle up their feelings.
"This is not a time where we should be feeling alone, or feeling isolated or feeling that we don't want to talk about it," she said.
People who are feeling overwhelmed should take advantage of the support services offered on the Missing Children Society of Canada website, Pick says.
With files from Colleen Underwood and Danielle Nerman