Ashley Simpson: Justice At Last

Murder trial begins in October

In late October, the world will finally learn what happened on the final day of my cousin Ashley Simpson’s young life. This was the last selfie taken by her on April 27th, 2017 at Margaret Falls, about an hour’s drive from her home in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

She had been enjoying a day at the Falls with her friend Mike, pictured here, and her boyfriend Derek Favell. What happened later that evening stayed between Ashley, God and her killer. Five years later, the RCMP discovered her remains up a logging road not far from her home, and Favell was charged with her murder.

It has been a long journey for Ashley’s family. Her father John and her sister Amanda have travelled across the country many times in a futile attempt to find the middle Simpson child.

They exhausted all their resources in a quest to find her. Now she resides in an urn in their modest home in Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario.

During the time she was missing, John took solace in raising money for Murdered and Missing Women in Canada, and for Wings of Mercy, a Facebook-based volunteer group who use drones and SUVs to help families of missing children.

John and Cindy hoped and prayed someone would come forward with news of Ashley; they had nearly given up hope when a police officer came to Cindy’s door with Ashley’s rings, and informed her that Favell was under arrest.

By that time, all of the money raised from t shirts and golf tourneys had been given to charity, and the Simpsons were faced with funeral and travel bills, and the prospect of a lengthy trial halfway across Canada. Both Simpson parents work as ship cooks, and will now have to give up their wages for at least a month while they attend the trial with Amanda who will also have to take time away from her job.

Friends in the Okanagan have tried to help raise the money for the Simpsons to be able to finally face their daughter’s accused killer, but fate dealt another cruel blow this past month when the area nearly burned to the ground during recent wild fires.

In the meantime, John will be selling t-shirt in hopes of scraping the money together. Yesterday, he was asking for any ideas to raise the money to be able to spend weeks away from home and deliver their personal impact statements.

There is a fundraiser on Facebook which sadly has not touched anyone’s heart. It has only raised $300 so far. This is shocking to me, considering Ashley’s Facebook site has more than 1,700 members who faithfully followed the case.

So I’m asking my friends, the Simpson family, and Ashley’s Army to step up to help. Can you skip Tim Horton’s one morning, or pass the McDonald’s drive thru and donate $20 dollars? (In the Simpson family alone, we could raise $500!)

If you’re still deciding, look around at your daughters and granddaughters and ask what would you do if one of them went missing and their skeletal remains were found thrown in a field up a logging road somewhere by someone who had taken their lives?

Wouldn’t you do what the Simpsons did, and lose everything in an effort to bring a killer to justice? And what would you think of your friends, family, even strangers who turn their backs on you when you reach out to for help?

There were many people who have read my blogs about Ashley over the past seven years, and took an interest in Ashley’s case. Yet I haven’t asked a single one of you for money for reading those blogs.

I’m asking you now.

I’m asking for justice and grace for a bereaved family who will have their wounds torn open all over again, as they hear the grim details of their Ashley’s final hours told in front of the world, and before the accused.

Please consider buying a shirt from John or contributing to this fundraiser. You can find him here. Or contribute to the GoFundMe (link above).

If you’re truly broke, please share this post.

This family needs your help, and needs your help now.

Thanks for reading.