It took more than two decades, but Jody Aspin finally knows why Shane Ertmoed chose to abduct and kill her young daughter in October 2000.
"I always wanted to know, why her?" Aspin said Thursday, the day after Ertmoed, who is serving a life sentence for the first-degree murder of 10-year-old Heather Thomas, was denied day parole.
"Apparently, the reason he picked Heather was because that was his type," Aspin said, recalling information Parole Board of Canada officials gleaned from Ertmoed over the course of a hearing held Wednesday (Jan. 8) to consider the child-killer's application.
"She reminded him of someone from his early years that he was attracted to and wanted to have a relationship with," Aspin continued.
"It answers a question I've wanted to know since Day 1."
Ertmoed is 22 years into his life sentence.
Heather – remembered in Facebook comments as "a truly happy, special, loving, caring, beautiful and bright-eyed young girl" – was playing outside of her father’s townhouse complex in Cloverdale on Oct. 1, 2000 when Ertmoed convinced her to go inside his apartment.
Her body was found three weeks later in Alouette Lake.
Upon arrest, Ertmoed confessed and provided a detailed description of the girl's murder. But Aspin said ever since he recanted and appealed his 2002 conviction and sentence, she has also been waiting for something else: for Ertmoed to admit he killed her daughter.
On Wednesday, her wait for that ended as well.
"This is the very first time in 24 years he has actually said the words, 'Yes, I killed her,'" she said.
"I needed to hear that so bad."
Yet another "really important" box Aspin was also able to check off on Jan. 8 was that of actually facing Ertmoed in person while giving her victim impact statement. That happening "was my whole purpose of doing this," she said.
"He needs to see me."
Her words, she said, had Ertmoed "bawling like a baby." It was a far cry from the 2021 hearing of Ertmoed's application for escorted temporary absences, after which Aspin said he'd shown "not an ounce" of remorse for his actions.
And while he voiced an apology this time, Aspin said the fact that Ertmoed directed his apology first to the Board and then to "the people behind me" left her feeling revictimized, "very slapped in the face by him."
She described Parole Board officials who denied Ertmoed's application as "amazing," and lauded those who have supported her over the years, including Langley-based lawyer Rebecca Darnell.
Darnell said Aspin was "extremely courageous" in reading her victim impact statement to Ertmoed. She, too, described the killer's expression of regret as "more of an insult than an apology."
Parole Board officials said Ertmoed will be eligible to apply for full parole later this year, in November. Information at canada.ca promises he will remain under a watchful eye regardless of whether any such application is ever successful.
"Lifers will never again enjoy total freedom," it states, explaining that those who are granted parole remain under conditions and supervision for life.
"Some may never be released on parole because they continue to represent too great a risk to reoffend."
Still numb from the Jan. 8 hearing, Aspin said she and others who knew and loved Heather will never stop fighting to keep Ertmoed behind bars.
Had it not been for him, Heather would have been turning 35 in March. Instead, her mother will mark her birthday by doing what she has done every March 12 since her daughter's death – visit her grave in Valley View Cemetery's Garden of Nativity.
"I'll bring a little note or I'll bring a little teddy bear," she said.
"I always bring her a little something. I also sit with her a while, just kind of talk to her."
