Crystal Saunders, killed 18 years ago, was a 'beautiful little girl' who 'just got lost': mother
Joanne Levasseur | CBC News | Posted: March 18, 2025 10:00 AM | Last Updated: March 18
Trial begins in September for Kevin Queau, accused of killing of Métis woman in Manitoba in 2007
WARNING: This story contains details of addictions and violence against women.
It's been nearly 18 years since Crystal Saunders was found dead, but her mother has never stopped crying for her 24-year-old daughter.
Sandra Saunders says for years, she called RCMP three times a week looking for answers about Crystal — until last year, when Mounties charged Kevin Queau with second-degree murder in connection with the Métis woman's 2007 death.
"I almost fainted. It was like the first day when they told me that they found my daughter dead," said Sandra. "It was reliving it again. And I've been struggling to stay alive. Every day, I struggle to live another day."
Search warrant documents recently obtained from court by CBC News lay out an elaborate undercover "Mr. Big" sting by police, intended to get Queau comfortable enough to talk about Saunders's death and his potential involvement in it.
Queau's trial begins in September, more than 18 years after the body of Crystal Saunders was found in a water-filled ditch near St. Ambroise, a small community at the southern end of Lake Manitoba.
The last known sighting of Saunders was in Winnipeg's West End on April 18, 2007. That's when a Winnipeg Police Service officer spotted her getting into a red vehicle.
Sandra Saunders said her daughter enjoyed life and was "just so lovable."
"Crystal was so outgoing. She was beautiful. She was smart, very smart," she said.
She remembers the day her daughter Crystal was born, right down to the bus ride she took to Misericordia Hospital while in labour. She remembers that her brother Robert immediately fell in love with Crystal, and that he was the first to hold the baby when she came home.
Crystal attended elementary school at Strathcona School in Winnipeg's William Whyte neighbourhood, and then went to St. John's High School.
Photos help remind Sandra of her little girl's happier days. She speaks fondly about a picture of her daughter smiling while aboard the River Rouge boat, and a snapshot taken at Camp Arnes, where Crystal was in the kitchen cooking with her best friend.
'Turmoil' at home
Crystal's smile and loveable nature belied her tumultuous home life. She lived with her maternal grandparents — who have since died — for extended periods.
"I'm not going to say it was a perfect home — you know, because it wasn't. My parents were alcoholics," Sandra said.
She herself used to get high "all the time," and she was in and out of jail, said Sandra.
That's behind her now, and she hasn't done drugs for 16 years, she said.
But she does suffer anxiety, insomnia and panic attacks because of her daughter's death, Sandra said, though her struggles started long before Crystal was killed. She was abused in her past, she said.
But things went downhill for Crystal when she turned 15 and began dating a gang member who was a couple of years older than her, her mother said.
"She just started being rebellious, and she was angry," said Sandra. "At one point, I had her to stay with me, and she was doing OK."
That changed when Crystal went back to her grandma's house.
"It was turmoil. And Crystal couldn't handle that. So Crystal started using drugs," Sandra said.
Crystal did straighten out for a while, and held down jobs at the cafeteria at St. John's High School and a pizza shop, but she started using drugs again.
Arrests and jail followed. So did sex work, said Sandra.
"I tried to be there for her, and I didn't judge her and stuff like that," she said.
'She just got lost'
Crystal was at Sandra's home the night before she was found dead.
"I'd seen her and I brought her home," she said. "I fed her, and I told her, 'Go to sleep, get some sleep.'"
Sandra said she went to bed because she had to wake up for work in the morning.
"By the time I got up for work, she was gone. And a couple hours later, they told me they found her body," she said.
Police say in court documents that Queau, who pleaded guilty in 2015 to sexually assaulting one woman and aggravated assault of another, was regularly in contact with sex trade workers. The registered sex offender's parole was revoked in 2019, after his girlfriend turned him in for contacting sex workers, in violation of his release conditions.
"I believe that Kevin [Queau] hired Crystal the night of her murder as a sex trade worker," says an affidavit filed by police in court to get a judge to approve warrants.
But Sandra Saunders wants people to know who the real Crystal was.
"Crystal was not born a prostitute. She was not born a drug addict. She was somebody. She was a beautiful little girl with big dreams.… She just got lost and she just couldn't come back."
Lorna Brown Johnson — Crystal's third cousin — mentored her and helped her write a resumé in the early 2000s, when she worked as a counsellor at Path Employability Centre on Selkirk Avenue.
"This was a beautiful girl," said Johnson. "She was a nice person."
She was shocked to learn about Crystal's death, but is grateful to know an arrest has been made in her killing, Johnson said in an interview with CBC.
"Crystal can rest in peace now," she said.
For immediate emotional assistance, call 1-844-413-6649. This is a national, toll-free 24/7 crisis call line providing support for anyone who requires emotional assistance related to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. You can also access long-term health support services such as mental health counselling and community-based cultural services through Indigenous Services Canada.