It was supposed to be a night out with friends at the movies.
Instead, it became the night Loretta Henderson’s daughter was murdered.
Krista Kenny was a 16-year-old with an infant daughter who loved her friends and wanted to be a teacher. In May 2009, she disappeared while walking home in Prince Albert. She was found dead not long after.
“(It was) the first time I ever babysat for her,” Henderson said quietly during an interview on Thursday. “I let her go out. I thought, ‘it’s movies, nothing will happen’ and she didn’t make it home.”
Krista and a few friends gathered at Kinsmen Park that night. When she left, a friend’s boyfriend offered to walk her home.
Henderson said the man had been “hitting on” her daughter during the gathering. At some point during the walk home, he turned on her, beat her up, and stabbed her in the neck while she was unconscious.
When she didn’t come home, Krista’s family searched the entire weekend for her. They filed a missing person report not long after. Investigators soon found Krista’s body.
Her death was Prince Albert’s first homicide of 2009. On Thursday, it was the biggest reason Henderson gathered with other local residents for Honouring our Sisters, Brothers, and 2SLGBTQ+, the Prince Albert Grand Council’s annual Memorial Walk.
“She was a good mom,” Henderson continued. “She had tonnes of friends. She always helped everybody. She didn’t like bullies. She was very loving—had lots of friends.”
Henderson said talking about her daughter’s death helps, but it’s still frustrating. She often tells young women to make sure they have a friend to walk home with, but adds that those precautions weren’t enough to prevent Krista’s murder.
“Just to be always together with somebody,” Henderson said. “Don’t ever be alone. I wish she would have had a friend with her when she left, but I guess he was kind of a friend.”
Incredibly, Henderson said Krista’s murderer showed up to her funeral before he was arrested. She said he even signed the guest registry.
Henderson said Krista’s death and others shows there is a lack of respect for women. It’s something she said needs to change.
“We’re supposed to be protected. We’re givers of life,” Henderson said. “I pray that our men will be more educated—to be protecting our women and our girls.
While events like Thursday’s walk are hard, Henderson said it makes her happy to see so much support for family members of those who were murdered or disappeared.
“I just like people to keep coming out and supporting (the walk),” she said. “If you see anyone being abused—man or woman or child—speak out. A lot of people are scared to speak. They think that it’s not my business, or something will come to me. Be brave. Speak out. You’ve got a voice. Speak out. Help others.”
Thursday’s walk began at 10 a.m. with a ceremony at the MMIWG Monument at the riverbank. Attendees then walked up to Kinsmen Park where they had lunch and stayed for a short program.
The PAGC Women’s Commission organized the event in partnership with PAGC Health and Social Development.
Women’s Commission chair Anita Parenteau began the day talking with a woman whose aunt was murdered. Parenteau said it’s an emotional experience.
“I told her, ‘I’m glad you’re here to get some healing, get some support, and talk if you need to talk,” Parenteau said. “Do whatever you need to do just to be around other people who’ve had the same experience.”
Parenteau said the issue of missing and murdered women receives a lot more attention than it used to, but there are still needs to be more progress. She said the way homeless people are treated is a major concern, since many of the women who go missing or are murdered were homeless at the time.
“It’s not easy to support people who are homeless,” Parenteau said. “It’s not easy at all, but we’re doing our best to have programming on the reserve. They should have more programming in the city.”
Beyond that, Parenteau would like to see more urgency when people are reported missing. In her home community of Sturgeon Lake, Parenteau said residents will create search groups when someone goes missing. She’d like something similar to happen in cities like Prince Albert.
Regardless of what changes or made, women like Loretta Henderson will keep walking. Henderson attended these walks before her daughter died. Back then, it was to remember her aunt and niece, who were murdered in separate incidents. Neither case was solved.
She also walks to remember an old friend, Marsha Okemow, who was also murdered in Prince Albert at the age of 16.
On days like today, she also remembers her many family and friends grieving just as she is.
“I walk for them all,” she said.
