There has been another set-back for the family of a Dawson Creek woman who was murdered in Mexico, almost 3 years ago.
A week and a half ago, Kiara Agnew’s family learned that her boyfriend, Ryan Friesen, is now considered guilty in connection to the 23-year-old’s death.
Family members now say that the Facebook page, ‘Justice for Kiara’ has been taken down by Facebook.
Kiara’s aunt, Tanya Agnew, says a statement sent to CTV News from Ryan Friesen’s lawyer was posted to the Facebook group. After the post, Agnew alleges that a copyright infringement was filed online by lawyer, Denise Brunsdon.
Since Kiara’s death in Playa del Carmen in March of 2023, ‘Justice for Kiara’ has been organizing vigils, protests and letter writing campaigns. They have been demanding that justice officials in Mexico re-examine the original court decision that declared Friesen not guilty.
Brunsdon sent the statement in question after Avery Hayne’s W5 investigation aired on TV, looking into the death of Kiara.
Agnew said that after the W5 episode aired, the Facebook page grew from 2000 to 6000 followers. According to Agnew, that increase in online traffic has allowed the family to begin making money from the page in order to pay for legal fees.
After the page was taken down, Agnew spoke with a team from Facebook, who are currently investigating the claim. An email from CJDC TV News to Facebook’s parent company Meta was not returned.
Agnew claims that multiple copyright violations were reported to Facebook concerning the post.
Screen grabs of the complaint sent to CJDC, appears to show that the email address is from Friesen’s lawyer, who works at the Bennet Jones law firm in Calgary. Brunsdon has also worked as a volunteer legal counsel for the Women’s Centre of Calgary.
A protest was held in front of the Bennett Jones law firm in Edmonton on Monday. CJDC TV News reached out to Brunsdon by email and by phone, however we have yet to hear back from her. In the meantime, the family has been forced to create a new page called, “Justice for Kiara: Trevor Agnew.” Agnew said that the family hopes to hear back from Facebook representatives in the next couple of days and that the original page will be restored.