Toronto Neighbourhood Remembers Holly Jones
Posted May 12, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a hard day for those who knew Holly Jones and it was especially difficult for her mother Maria Jones. Holly was 10-years-old when she was abducted on Perth Ave. while walking home from a friend’s house four years ago. Police eventually found her body on the shores of Lake Ontario. Friends and family gathered outside Holly’s home on Saturday for the Annual Butterfly Walk, in memory of the little girl.
Jones said she’ll do whatever it takes to keep her daughter’s memory alive. “We’ve lost our Holly, however I never want her spirit to die. So I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep her spirit alive.” She added that the pain of losing a child doesn’t go away with time. “It’s not possible for it to ever get easier.”
In 2004, Michael Briere, the man responsible for Holly’s death, was charged with first-degree murder. He told the courts he assaulted her shortly after looking at child porn on his computer. Earlier this week, some of Holly’s friends planted flowers at a memorial garden close to the street where she was snatched. Area resident and mother of two, Nathalie Mitongo, said its still scary raising children in the same neighbourhood where the kidnapping took place.
Jones is planning another memorial walk in September to mark Holly’s 15th birthday.
