A young Canadian woman and her 26-year-old hockey player boyfriend boarded a plane set for Mexico. However, the 23-year-old woman was found dead at the Mexican resort she was visiting with her boyfriend. Now, police have arrested the boyfriend in connection with the death of the 23-year-old Kiara Agnew, who was a bank worker from British Columbia, after she was found to be dead at the Grand Sunset Princess Resort in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, Mexico last week.
Kiara Agnew had flown to Mexico in celebration of her birthday with her 26-year-old hockey player boyfriend, Ryan Friesen, who played for the Dawson Creek Canucks.
In the wake of the young woman’s untimely death, the Secretariat of Public Security in Solidaridad announced that they had detained a suspect in connection to the 23-year-old woman’s apparent murder. They announced that they had locked up “a person of foreign origin for the possible crime of homicide, after a lifeless woman was found with possible marks of violence in a hotel located in the Xcalacoco neighborhood” of Playa del Carmen south of vacation destination Cancun, Mexico.
In the image shared, which was uploaded by the Secretariat of Public Security in Solidaridad, the suspect is shown with his face blurred. However, the Canadian government’s Global Affairs department also shared a statement about the 23-year-old woman’s untimely death, along with a note that the suspect, Friesen, had been arrested in connection with her murder.
“Officials are providing consular assistance to the families and are in contact with local authorities,” Charlotte MacLeod, a spokesperson for Global Affairs, said. She added, “no further information could be disclosed due to privacy considerations.”
Prosecutors for the case are working in the office located in Quintana Roo, which is the same district as the hotel is located. They confirmed that a foreign “individual” had been arrested in connection with the death of the Canadian woman.
Only days before her twenty-fourth birthday, Kiara Agnew was killed while in Mexico. She was eager for the getaway vacation with her boyfriend lover. They booked the trip around Christmas time and were excited to get out of Canada in the winter for the much warmer climate of Mexico.
Agnew’s aunt, Katlyn Levesque, told the Toronto Star: “She has been counting down to this trip. It is shocking. We want to know what happened. She was a beautiful, wonderful person inside and out. It’s unfair that she was robbed of her chance to experience life to the fullest.”
Although Levesque did not want to speculate on the death of her niece, she did confirm that her family and the family of Friesen had been in touch and were both devastated by the news of Agnew’s untimely death.
“They want to find out what happened as much as everybody else,” the victim’s aunt said.
Prior to her death, Kiara Agnew was employed by the Dawson Creek branch of Lake View Credit Union.
The bank said in a Facebook post: “All at Lake View Credit Union are mourning the loss of our teammate and friend, Kiara Agnew. This is a devastating tragedy and loss for our community. We send our love and faith to all others who have been impacted.”
Agnew and Friesen had been dating for about eighteen months at the time of her death.