ANYBODY WHO HEARS ANYTHING..PLEASE CONTACT ME!!!!! I WANT TO TALK WITH HER FAMILY IF ANYONE HAS A NUMBER...
Hornby Island "folk-punk" musician dies suddenly, foul play not ruled out Vancouver SunNovember 18, 2009 5:18 PMBe the first to post a comment
Tempest Grace Gale, 25, died suddenly on Hornby Island
A "well known and loved" musician and poet on Hornby Island died Wednesday, announced Comox Valley RCMP. Police said in a statement Tempest Grace Gale, 25, died suddenly on the island and a "person of interest" has been taken to the detachment.
RCMP said foul play has not been ruled out and a number of people have been sought to speak with police. Gale described her music as "folk-punk" on her myspace page and recently performed at the Dancing on the Edge festival.
The investigation is in its early stages, RCMP said.
Her MySpace bio referred to the singer/poet as "an artistic
maelstrom whose expression is as multifaceted as her origins.
Currently arising from the dripping shore of the notorious yet
veiled Hornby Island, she brews a vociferous fervor which has
swept her from coast to coast."
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
----
Residents of the close-knit community of Hornby Island are
grieving after the mysterious death at the marina early
Wednesday of a well-loved, free-spirited 25-year-old
performance artist.
The RCMP said it had not ruled out foul play in the death of
Tempest (Pest) Grace Gale. She was a gardener, musician, poet,
unicyclist, and stilt-walker.
The death was "sudden" and a "person of interest" was at the
RCMP detachment in Comox Valley, the RCMP said in a news
release. If the death turns out to be murder, residents said it
would be the first since Europeans settled on this idyllic
island, inhabited by just over 1,000 eco-friendly, peace-loving
residents.
Locals say Gale's body was found at the Ford's Cove Marina,
where she lived on a boat, either alone, or with her boyfriend,
Steph Desjardins. Residents of the island said Gale's parents,
Mike and Jazzmyre Gale, lived on a boat in the same marina.
Matthew Fredbeck, who owns Ford's Cove Marina and lives 500
feet from the dock, said he was awoken by screams from Michael
Gale, the father of Tempest Gale, at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.
"The father was screaming at the top of his lungs from the
dock, going on and on and on, 'Murder! Murder! My daughter! My
daughter!'" Fredbeck said. "It was a horrible thing."
Fredbeck said he ran to the dock.
"The scene on the dock was, there she was, Pest," Fredbeck said.
"The boyfriend had found her, and she was dead. The father was
screaming, and it was a horrible thing."
By 9 a.m., police helicopters had arrived and police dogs
sniffed along the beach, Fredbeck said.
"They are really looking for anything and everything to try to
piece this together," he said.
"Everybody loves her," said Fredbeck, who has known Gale for
four years.
"Of all the people for this to happen to, it's this person that
the community really loves," Fredbeck said. "Because of that,
for a lot of people on the island, it's like losing a member of
your own family."
He said the island opened a community hall for people to drop
in and share their memories of her.
"Sometimes I just sit and cry," Fredbeck said. "I'm just trying
to get by."
George Buyver, a 35-year resident of the island, said he tried
to comfort Gale's parents and her boyfriend, a Quebecois who
moved to the island and works as a carpenter.
Residents said a man who used to attend a now-closed centre for
troubled youth on the island had been threatening Gale's
parents.
On Tuesday night, the evening before the death, the parents
felt so threatened that they stayed at the home of a friend,
Buyver said.
Buyver said that on Wednesday, the parents told him they were
concerned for their safety. "They said they were afraid of
him," Buyver said.
He said he tried to comfort Gale's parent and her boyfriend.
The boyfriend didn't want to believe the death was murder.
"His belief that he wanted to believe for sure was that it was
an accident and she fell," Buyver said. "He certainly didn't
want to believe that there was an evilness out there that
actually wanted to murder her.
"That's an emotional response. Certainly he just didn't want to
believe that of his best friend. ... They've been together
quite a long time."
But Gale's father said he believed his daughter was murdered,
Buyver said.
"It's a father who just lost his only daughter," Buyver said.
He said the man on the dock worried the parents.
"They were all concerned about him, and then she shows up dead
on the dock," Buyver said. "It's hit the island pretty hard,"
he said.
"She's a kid who grew up here and is well-liked, and the family
is part of the island."
Residents said if the person of interest had been found on the
island soon after the death while tempers were flaring, some
might have turned to vigilante justice.
But locals also emphasized that it was not known yet if the
death was a murder and that if it turns out to be murder, any
suspect should be given a fair trial based on the evidence.
Bob Sarti, who has lived on the island for three years, said
few young people live on Hornby and Gale was well-respected,
especially among the younger generation.
Sarti last saw Gale perform at a bluff on the island as part of
Hornby Island's participation at 350, a worldwide event to push
governments to act on climate change.
"She performed there on the beach and gave a very heartfelt
plea," Sarti said.
"Everybody is very upset and shocked," he said. "They're
talking in small groups at the hall and at the store. Nothing
like this has ever happened before."
rdalton@vancouversun.com
--
!FACEBOOK IS THE CIA!
www.myspace.com/xjoeyonlyx
www.JOEYONLY.com
Friends of Tempest Gale
