Nicole Frenchman, 23, was last seen in the Kingsway area north of Royal Alexandra Hospital almost nine months ago as she got into a gray truck. At the time, the Frenchman was 10 weeks pregnant.
Brandilyn Cardinal and Samantha Bourque grew up with a Frenchman and told CTV News Edmonton that the vigil is being organized to make sure no one forgets.
“She was tender, caring, extroverted, (and) funny,” Bourque said. “It would always make everyone smile and laugh.”
“(It is) disappointing that she does not know what happened to her,” Cardinal added. “Nothing has been done since it was ignored.”
For Cardinal, it was shocking to see her friend’s face on a missing person poster.
“You see so many missing people,” Cardinal said. “But to see the face of someone you really know, you do not believe.”
Kiesha Monias, the French’s sister, said the worst part is not knowing what happened.
“I wish I could find her very soon,” Monias said. “I was really close to her.
“It makes it even harder when we do not get answers,” Monias added. “No help. It seems everyone has been forgotten.”
Nicole Frenchman, right, and Kiesha Monias’s sister (Provided).
In October, police found the Frenchman missing’s suspect. Since then, Monias said there have been no updates from officers.
“It sucks to say, but I know he’s obviously not here with us anymore,” Monias told CTV News Edmonton. “I really want to know where he is.”
That’s why friends and family keep saying France’s name and raising awareness, hoping she will return home.
“Her case has just caught a cold,” Cardinal said. “Nobody even knows her name anymore, it seems.”
“It’s really frustrating because they see her as another street man, another man who is gone,” Burke said. “It seems to me that everyone just forgot her and just rejected her as another missing and murdered native.”
CTV News Edmonton contacted the Edmonton Police Department for comment.
