Pubdate: Wed, 26 May 2010
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Andy Ivens, The Province

SHE'D VOWED IT WAS HER LAST DRUG RUN

Missing Woman's Body Found

She vowed it would be her last drug run, and it may have caused her
death.

Condolences poured in to a Facebook website on Tuesday for the family
and friends of Brittney Irving, a 24-year-old, bright-eyed Kelowna
woman who had been missing since April 6.

Kelowna RCMP said in a terse statement that Irving's body had been
located and they were undertaking a homicide investigation.

"It is so sad," Jodie Ricard-Lang wrote in a message to Irving's
brother, mother and father.

"It just seems like yesterday that she was a bright, little baby girl.
She obviously will be missed by many friends and family members."

"Britt, you were a wonderful person and so much fun to be around,"
wrote a grieving Chelsea Frank.

"You will be missed. I think of you often and it was hurting so bad to
not know what happened and now, the worst outcome of all."

Kelowna RCMP Const. Steve Holmes asked the media to respect Irving's
family's privacy as it mourns their loss, but he provided no details
surrounding her death.

Irving was last seen at a Kelowna motel on April 6 by a family member.
Her blue Ford Explorer was found the next day about 15 kilometres east
of Kelowna, where Philpott Road intersects with Highway 33.

A week later, her brother Joze MacCullouch gave an interview to a
CHBC-TV reporter, in which he said Brittney was looking forward to
going into rehab to deal with her addiction to painkillers after doing
a big drug deal.

He said the deal -- involving 36 kilograms of marijuana -- was going
to be Irving's last.

"She was going to make a little bit of money, and she had all the
intention off getting off those OxyContins," said MacCullouch.

"She was so excited to be going into rehab, she was a happy, happy
girl."

On Mother's Day, Irving's mother, Sandra MacCullouch, made a plea to
the public for information.

"I'd like to have her home and give her a great big hug," she told
CHBC. "But I have a feeling that's not going to happen."

She suspected robbery may have been a motive for her
disappearance.

"She had money on her, and people are cruel," said
Sandra.

Speculation swirled that Irving may have been dealing with a member of
the notorious Independent Soldiers gang, which is heavily involved in
the drug trade throughout B.C.

Irving had been living in a house in the 300-block Braeloch Road,
where police raided a large marijuana grow-op shortly before her
disappearance, according to a report on the Kelowna-based website
Casta net.org. 
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