Kelowna, B.C., residents remember Mindy Tran 30 years after death

August 12, 2024

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Kelowna, B.C., residents remember Mindy Tran 30 years after death

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.

Around a dozen people in Kelowna, B.C., gathered to remember Mindy Tran on Sunday, 30 years after the eight-year-old girl was killed.

On Aug. 17, 1994, Tran was reported missing after she rode her pink bike down her quiet street in the southern Interior city. She would never be seen alive again.

Six weeks later, on the insistence of a so-called psychic with a divining rod, police found a shallow grave with the girl’s remains in a park near the Trans’ house. The child had been sexually assaulted and strangled. The discovery of her body prompted an outpouring of grief in the Okanagan city.

Shannon Murrin, a man originally from Newfoundland, was charged with the killing in January 1997.

However, he was found not guilty by a jury in 2000 after a seven-month trial, with his lawyers alleging that the RCMP’s lead investigator at the time had manufactured a case against their client and manipulated witnesses.

Mindy Tran is seen with her mother in this archival footage. (CBC)

No one else has been charged in Tran’s death since then, and 30 years after her death shocked B.C., community members at Sunday’s event said they’re still searching for answers.

“I tried to not cry, tried to control [myself],” said Shui Lee, the chair of the Chinese Freemasons of Kelowna, in an interview. “But after 30 years, the scar is still there. I still remember what happened that day.

“I hope Mindy can go to heaven, be our little angel, and rest in peace.”

An East Asian man looks forlorn as he stands outdoors in front of a plaque and a series of pink balloons. — Shui Lee, the chair of the Chinese Freemasons of Kelowna, said he knew the Tran family and remembered Mindy as a smart, happy girl who loved to ride her bike. (Sonja Larouche/CBC)

Lee said he organized the event to ensure Tran’s memory lived on, and remind newer members of the community of the young girl and how happy she always was.

See also Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tough Bronx persona is under fresh scrutiny with a resurfaced childhood nickname from her suburban upstate New York upbringing casting doubt on that publicly portrayed image. The progressive champion’s latest spat with President Donald Trump over the Iran strikes again called into question her true upbringing when she declared on X she was a “Bronx girl" to make her a point against the president. The 35-year-old congresswoman wrote in part on X: "I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully," she said, referring to the president’s upbringing in Queens as she called for his impeachment over his decision to bypass Congress in authorizing U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx but moved to Yorktown – which is nearly an hour outside New York City -- when she was 5 years old and went on to attend Yorktown High School where she graduated in 2007. She was considered an accomplished student there and well thought of by teacher Michael Blueglass, according to a 2018 report by local media outlet Halston Media News. “There, known by students and staff as ‘Sandy,’ she was a member of the Science Research Program taught by Michael Blueglass," the report states. “She was amazing," Blueglass said, per the report. “Aside from her winning one of the top spots and going to the [Intel International Science and Engineering Fair], she was just one of the most amazing presenters in all of the years I've been at Yorktown. Her ability to take complex information and explain it to all different levels of people was fantastic." After high school, Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University, where she majored in economics and international relations, per the report. Ocasio-Cortez’s “Sandy" nickname — which carries a more suburban and preppy tone — appears to undercut her politically crafted image as a tough, inner-city fighter, one she has portrayed since her famous 2018 congressional campaign where she eventually ousted former 10-terms Congressman Joe Crowley. New York GOP Assemblyman Matt Slater, who now represents Yorktown, added to the scrutiny of Ocasio-Cortez’s persona in the wake of her brash with Trump and released images of Ocasio-Cortez from his high school yearbook. He claimed he and the rising Democratic star attended Yorktown High School at the same time when she was a freshman and he was a senior. "I saw the attacks on the president and her [Ocasio-Cortez] claims that she's a big, tough Bronx girl," said Slater. "To sit there and say that she’s a Bronx girl is just patently ridiculous." "Everybody in our community knows this is just a bold-face lie," said Slater on "Fox & Friends First" last week. "She grew up in Yorktown, she was on my track team." "She's lying about her background, she's lying about her upbringing," Slater claimed. Slater’s post sent social media ablaze and prompted Ocasio-Cortez to respond after an image if her family’s home was posted online. “I’m proud of how I grew up and talk about it all the time," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X Friday responding to the post. “My mom cleaned houses and I helped. We cleaned tutors’ homes in exchange for SAT prep." “Growing up between the Bronx and Yorktown deeply shaped my views of inequality & it’s a big reason I believe the things I do today!"

He added that he remained angry at the fact no one has been convicted of her murder but he wants community members to move past their anger and make her story carry on.

The event saw people gathering at a memorial tree, planted at the corner of Springfield Road and Ziprick Road at Mission Creek Regional Park, and sharing their memories of Tran.

A plaque with an East Asian girl's picture on it in a park, with text honouring Mindy Tran and asking community members to remember her. — A memorial tree was planted in honour of Mindy Tran at a Kelowna, B.C., park. An accompanying plaque details how Tran’s body was found in the park in 1994, weeks after she was reported missing. (Sonja Laruoche/CBC)

“The qualities I appreciated in Mindy were that of a quiet but happy, friendly little girl who was willing to help others,” said Elizabeth Daley, who was Tran’s Grade 1 teacher at Springvalley Elementary School in the early ’90s. “She was sweet and gentle. She was well-mannered, sensitive and appreciative.

“These qualities are Mindy. Nothing can change or alter them,” Daley added.

“By acknowledging them and appreciating them and trying to express them more in our own lives, we keep Mindy alive in our hearts.”