Grieving family of killed 22-year-old Sask. man say he was always smiling

Serenity Squirrel said there's nothing like the bond between two full-blooded siblings. She'd never felt as much grief and pain as when she first learned about her brother's death.

"There's a connection that you can never really spark with anybody else," Serenity said. 

Warman RCMP and emergency responders found a Fishing Lake First Nation man, 22, dead about five kilometres southwest of Saskatoon on April 15. Investigators later charged two people with second-degree murder in connection with his death.

Police did not identify the man, but Serenity said he was her older brother, Trinity Squirrel, who grew up in Regina but lived between Saskatoon and Fishing Lake before he died.

"I was sitting on the floor around 1 p.m.… my mom messaged me and she just said '[Trinity] died and I'm trying to see what happened,' and I really didn't … believe it," she said.

"That message …for a second really ruined me."

Trinity worked in Fishing Lake, moving between jobs in the community, and then would travel to Saskatoon to spend time with his family, Serenity said.

She said he went to parenting classes to try and improve as a father to his now nearly three-year-old daughter, considering his own was absent. 

"He was becoming more of a father … it was really beautiful to see," she said.

Not long after Trinity was found by police and Serenity was notified, she said she had cried, and couldn't cry anymore, and felt at peace.

He had too many dreams that never got fulfilled—that won't get fulfilled- Jamie Young, mother of Trinity Squirrel

Serenity, 19, said there was an unspoken connection with her brother: jokes that only connected with him and profound talks about life that she could only have with him.

"A lot of our stupid memories are only memories that me and him can talk about, and that's what kind of hurts about this whole thing," she said.

"It's hard to explain," she said.

Serenity said Trinity was smart, a hard worker and loved poetry. His mother, Jamie Young, said the same thing, noting his love of music. 

Young also said he wanted to start up an outreach program to help people experiencing homelessness. 

She said she spoke with her son every day before he died. Young remembers him constantly smiling.

"I'm hanging in there. I have moments where I break down, crying, because he's not here," she said. 

"It's really been hard," she added, with her voice fading and cracking. Young said she couldn't stop crying and couldn't talk with anyone.

Then she told a story, half-chuckling as she remembered compensating him with a guitar after holding him back from attending a trip to Disneyland as part of a local competition he had won at his Regina elementary school.

One of the last conversations she had, she remembers he said "I love you, mom." After that, he didn't respond to messages asking if he had made it to his destination, Fishing Lake First Nation, where she believed he was going.

"He had too many dreams that never got fulfilled — that won't get fulfilled," she said.

She asked around over the next day or so, and then heard from her nephew, whom she said police called first, who told her what had happened. Then police contacted her later on April 16 to tell her.

Investigators learned he was at a Saskatoon residence in the 600 block of Wardlow Road, where the two people were later arrested: a 33-year-old woman and 27-year-old man.

RCMP said they don't believe the incident is random.