Police have identified the two women who were killed in a Chilliwack shooting last week.
The RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) is releasing the names of 43-year-old Amber Culley and 49-year-old Mimi Kates in an effort to find witnesses and associates, but the families of the women are asking for privacy as they grieve.
“She was the most loving, generous, compassionate and brave human being we have ever known,” Culley’s family said in a statement. “We will miss her madly but we will never let a murderer put out her bright light or destroy our little boys’ lives. Her children were her world.
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“We wish to thank our extended family, friends and beautiful humans in the Lower Mainland and around the world for the outpouring of love which is beyond proof of her worth. We wish to thank IHIT, the RCMP and Victims Services, who have worked 24/7 for the past four days to find her perpetrator and have shown us priceless love & respect.”
The man who allegedly killed the two women and shot a man in a McNaught Drive home July 21 was located July 25.
Eric Shestalo, 50, knew the victims, and police immediately started searching for his red Jeep YJ. They found it at Bridal Falls July 22, setting off a search by IHIT investigators, supported by the RCMP’s Upper Fraser Valley Regional Detachment (UFVRD), the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team (ERT), RCMP Air One, the Integrated Police Dog Services (IPDS) and the Integrated Tactical Support Group.
They found Shestalo dead from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. An autopsy is pending and the investigation is continuing.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the IHIT Information Line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
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