The body of 19-year-old Angel Carlick was found on Friday, RCMP confirmed on Tuesday.
A Whitehorse resident discovered Carlick’s remains dumped in bush alongside the Pilot Mountain subdivision’s hiking trails.
The resident contacted police immediately.
Her body was found in light brush that abuts a snow-covered road running beneath a power line through the subdivision.
RCMP tape and barriers blocked entry to the area on Tuesday.
Whitehorse RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Roger Lockwood was unable say whether she had died in the area where her body was found. He also wouldn’t say when she died.
An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
Aerial photos of the site were taken from a helicopter while police officers visited the homes of nearby residents to try to get more information.
Friends and family last saw Carlick at a graduation barbeque on May 27.
“She was so young and she was taking on the world on her own,” said Irma Scarff, the mother of one of Angel’s friends.
“And it was starting to come together. She was graduating, she had an apartment, and she was helping her brother.
“Everything was coming into place, everything was about to change.”
Her disappearance had a huge effect on Whitehorse youth.
“I’d wake up in the middle of the night and see my little girl sitting there looking out the window,” said Scarff.
“I’d ask her what was going on and she told me, ‘I can’t sleep mom, I keep thinking about Angel.’
“And no one was doing anything.”
It took weeks before the RCMP initiated a search for the missing youth.
Police did search the Whitehorse area for the young woman.
Friends and family also organized searches in the Whitehorse area as well as in Vancouver and Edmonton.
But neither police nor volunteers searched the Pilot Mountain area during the almost six-month-long investigation.
“That particular area was not searched,” said Lockwood.
“The RCMP conducted ground, air and water searches throughout the Whitehorse area.”
Scarff helped put out missing posters that have been pasted to walls and windows throughout town.
Scarff also helped organize a search of the Whitehorse area, along with Vicki Durrant, the supervisor of Blue Feather Youth Centre.
At 17, when she first started working at Blue Feather, Angel was alcoholic and homeless.
A year later, she was working full time at Blue Feather, cooking, managing and acting as a mentor for some of the other kids.
She found an apartment, was about to graduate and was planning to adopt her brother, who lives in a Whitehorse group home.
Her disappearance has exposed the lack of support for First Nations youth.
On October 26, youth staged a sit-in outside of the Elijah Smith federal building to bring awareness to the need for a youth shelter.
“It’s time for the community to come together and look after our youth, you can’t leave them on the street,” said Scarff.
“Somebody has to help out — this has to change.”
Aside from her own two girls, Scarff is also taking care of two homeless children.
“Who says that that homeless boy isn’t going to be in Dennis Fentie’s shoes one day?” she said.
“Or that that young homeless girl isn’t going to be an RCMP officer when she gets big?”
“We’re going to have too many Angels on our hands if this keeps up.”
Is Whitehorse a healthy community? asked Durrant.
“The leaders aren’t listening,” she said, citing the city’s proposal to dismantle Stan McCowan arena.
“They’re tearing down the only rec site in the area. That’s insane. And you wonder why our community is so dysfunctional.”
There needs to be more programming for youth and struggling families, she added.
Yesterday after school, 60 people gathered at the Blue Feather Youth Centre to try to come to terms with Carlick’s death.
Four grief counsellors from victim’s services were available for anyone that wanted to talk.
Kids could cry, which was much healthier than drowning their sorrows with alcohol, she said.
Events are scheduled at Blue Feather every day after 4 p.m.
On Friday a memorial service is scheduled at the youth centre.
Angel’s family is planning to take her home to Good Hope Lake, BC, for the funeral.
“I really thank God that we do have a body to bury,” said Scarff. “I’m thankful for that.
“At least that brings some closure to the family.”