Pubdate: Tue, 29 Jun 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: Suzanne Fournier

MURDERED WOMAN WAS DOING ONE LAST RUN

A man who Brittney Irving was due to meet on the day she disappeared
to seal an alleged drug deal has been charged with her first-degree
murder.

Joelon David Atish Verma, 29, known as Joey Verma and once associated
with the Independent Soldiers gang, appeared in court Monday on
charges of first-degree murder and robbery.

Kelowna RCMP Const. Steve Holmes said that Verma, who was arrested
Friday in Rutland, is known to police, although "he doesn't as yet
have a criminal record."

Irving, 24, was an attractive woman struggling with an addiction to
OxyContin and hoping to do one last run in the drug trade before going
to rehab.

She went missing on April 7, shortly after she was last seen by a
family member, leaving a Kelowna motel.

RCMP said that Brittney was believed to be "in possession of a large
amount of marijuana on April 6 and planned to meet with the accused
Joe Verma the next day to sell the marijuana.

"For the next several weeks, a monumental effort to find her took
place," Kelowna RCMP Const. Steve Holmes said Monday. "The search was
not confined to just law enforcement and search and rescue, but also
involved her friends and family, as everyone hoped for a happy ending."

Irving's Ford Explorer was found shortly after her disappearance, but
her body was not found until late May, nowhere near where the car was
discovered.

RCMP revealed previously that Irving was living at a home where police
discovered a large grow operation in March.

Holmes said that the murder of Irving, a woman with many friends and
loving family members, underscores the futility and danger of the drug
trade, noting it is hard for anyone to "pull free of its grasp."

A Facebook memorial group with more than 14,000 members carries
tributes to Irving.

Irving's brother, Joze Mac-Cullouch, told a Kelowna TV station in
April that Brittney was ready to leave the drug trade and deal with
her addiction.

Her mother, Sandra MacCullouch, said that when she disappeared Irving
"had money on her, and people are cruel."

"She's just a pea in a pod out there for drug dealers or whatever. She
means nothing to them," Mac-Cullouch added.
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