Fundraiser for family of murder victim on Piapot First Nation

The man who was murdered on Piapot First Nation last week is being remembered as a loving father of three.

Justin Crowe was found outside a house on the First Nation early morning of Oct. 29. Police say he was stabbed to death. Twenty-year-old Tia Justice Pinacie-Littlechief is facing a charge of second-degree murder in his death.

Bobby Lee Crowe is Justin Crowe’s first cousin, but she says they grew up together and she always considered him to be more of a brother. She spoke to News Talk Radio by phone after attending his funeral on Wednesday afternoon.

“Justin was a very loving father, a very kind-spirited person,” she said. “He was the type of person that would take his shirt off his back for you. If he knew you were in the need of any type of help, he would do anything he could to help you.”

She says he was the heart of the family and the person who kept them all together. He had three sons with his childhood sweetheart Candace Cochrane. They had been together since Grade 9.

“We just sent him on his journey today but his immediate family, his mom and his brother and his dad and his wife and his children, they are still in shock and they are grieving,” Crowe said.

Darby Rist is a friend of Candace Cochrane and went to high school with the couple. She set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with funeral expenses and to hopefully raise money for the boys’ future. Unfortunately, the online fundraising campaign is not going very well, having only raised $130 in five days.