For Ashley Simpson’s father, Monday marks an essential however heartbreaking milestone within the 7½-year-long nightmare he has been residing since he final heard from his vibrant and strong-willed daughter.
John Simpson and different relations will probably be at B.C. Supreme Court docket in Salmon Arm for the primary day of the trial of Derek Favell, who was charged with Ashley’s homicide after her stays had been discovered exterior the Shuswap metropolis greater than 5 years after she went lacking.
In 2016, 32-year-old Ashley Simpson disappeared from the agricultural property close to Salmon Arm — a southern Inside neighborhood round 75 kilometres east of Kamloops, B.C. — the place she was residing with Favell, her boyfriend.
Based on Ashley’s father, in spring 2016 she instructed her household in St. Catherine’s, Ont., that she was planning to hitchhike again to her residence province. However she by no means arrived.
Over the subsequent half decade, Simpson says he and members of his household made a number of journeys to B.C.’s Shuswap area to search for Ashley in floor and drone searches.
“I acquired on a airplane and met my [other] daughter and her buddy in Salmon Arm to start out a search,” Simpson recalled of his actions after studying Ashley was lacking.
“That’s the place all of it started. Yearly we got here down for every week, as that’s all we may afford, and began grid-searching for our daughter.”
Ashley was one in every of 5 ladies reported lacking within the North Okanagan-Shuswap area between 2016 and 2017 — a incontrovertible fact that, alongside along with her household’s dedication, saved Ashley’s story within the media over time regardless of little phrase of progress from RCMP investigators.
In late 2021, police introduced an enormous growth within the case — a tip had led investigators to Ashley’s stays, which had been positioned in a wooded space exterior of Salmon Arm.
Per week later, Ashley’s boyfriend on the time of her disappearance, Derek Favell, was charged with second-degree homicide. Favell has pleaded not responsible.
Shortly after Ashley’s stays had been positioned, RCMP investigators flew to Ontario to ship the information to her household, John Simpson stated.
“[Favell] was arrested the day they handed over Ashley’s rings — the rings we had given Ashley. That’s after we lastly realized that she wasn’t coming residence,” he stated.
Favell’s trial in B.C. Supreme Court docket will probably be earlier than a decide alone.
And though Ashley’s household say they’re relieved the trial is lastly beginning, in addition they don’t anticipate to study a lot past what has already been revealed in Favell’s bail hearings and a preliminary inquiry.
“It’s exhausting. It’s underneath a publication ban and so [the family] can’t speak to anyone,” stated Rose Simpson, one in every of John’s cousins, who has been writing a weblog about Ashley’s case.
“It’s been exhausting. John stated to me, ‘What number of occasions do I’ve to take heed to how my daughter died?’”
John and different relations are flying to B.C. for the court docket proceedings, whereas Rose plans to attend the trial just about from her residence in Ontario.
The Simpsons say they’re hopeful the general public will discover out the reality of what occurred to Ashley.
“If he will get justice — there’s not sufficient justice on the planet proper now, if you have a look at all of the horrible issues occurring — this may give some hope to the entire lacking ladies [from the region] that haven’t been discovered but,” Rose stated.
In 2021, RCMP stated they believed Ashley’s case was not related to any of the opposite lacking ladies within the area.
As of fall 2023, three of these lacking individuals instances stay unsolved. The stays of 18-year-old Traci Genereaux had been found on a rural property south of Salmon Arm in 2017, however no arrests have been made in connection along with her loss of life.