A candlelight vigil was held in Calgary Sunday evening to pay tribute a little girl and her mother, who were both found dead earlier this week.
The body of Taliyah Leigh Marsman, 5, was discovered Thursday in a rural area east of Calgary, three days after her mother Sara Baillie, 34, was found dead.
Edward Delten Downey, 46, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Chris Johnson, a rapper who goes by the name L’IL Chris, described his cousin Taliyah as “always smiling” and having an “aura and energy that lit up the whole house.”
“She was a tall baby,” he said. “I said to her, ‘you’re going to play ball just like your dad.’”
“I knew that she loved dancing so I hoped she would have gone far with her dancing,” he added.
“It was not right,” Johnson said. “She was only a baby.”
Johnson said he wants his uncle, Colin Marsman, to know that he’s “there for him,” now that “his precious daughter is gone.”
Downey is described by police as a man with an “extensive criminal history.”
Calgary Police said they believe Downey was an acquaintance of Taliyah, Baillie and Colin Marsman, but Marsman denies knowing the man.
With a report from CTV Calgary
