Jessica Klinkenberg
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, January 2, 2008

YELLOWKNIFE - In July 2006, Ashley Geraghty went on one of the hardest trips in his life to Lennoxville, Que., just outside of Sherbrooke.

The Yellowknife hospital worker was in the town for two weeks following the death of his sister at the hands of the husband she was separated from, Jeffrey Loach.

Ashley Geraghty attended the candlelight vigil remembering the Montreal Massacre of 1989 held Dec. 6. He spoke about his sister at the vigil, who was killed by her husband July 2006. He has been campaigning ever since to raise awareness about family violence.- Jessica Klinkenberg/NNSL photo

Geraghty's sister, Faye, who was stabbed to death, lay in the rental house for six days before her body was discovered by her 11-year-old son, who returned home early from summer camp after he was unable to get a hold of his mother by phone.

Faye's other son, who was three-years-old at the time of the attack, was left alone in the house the entire time as his mother lay dead, Geraghty said. Loach had injured the boy when he tried to defend his mother.

"For the (youngest) boy, he was barefoot, so he was walking through her blood in the house," said Geraghty.

"I guess the biggest issue for him is any men that are loud, irrespective of the loudness, it terrifies him."

He said the 11-year-old doesn't remember finding her.

"He's always been a phenomenal child. We know that he saw her there after six days of being decomposed."

Geraghty's parents are taking care of the children now. He said that it's the children that keep his father alive.

"I think it was enough of a shock, that if he wasn't caring for the children he would have passed away."

Since then, Geraghty said that people seem uncertain of how to speak to him about the death of his sister.

"Most people didn't know what to say, so you become a little bit more isolated than normal."

Sundays are hard for Geraghty now.

"I used to speak to my sister every Sunday for a couple of hours. So Sundays are very hard for me, very lonely, because you're missing that chat you had with a good friend."

Geraghty's wife experienced some fears, since his sister's husband had never shown a history of violence.

"If he can snap, why can't anyone just snap?" he explained.

The effect of Faye's death has been different for every family member he said, but it's still the same.

Once the police had finished investigating the crime scene, Geraghty went into the house.

"A lot of people don't realize that crime scenes are turned over to the family members uncleaned."

Geraghty was the only family member there.

"We had to find a way to get the home cleaned up and get it back to the owner."

He was still in shock when it happened.

"Being in the house and seeing the battle zone, if you want to call it. "My sister fought pretty hard so she was able to do some physical damage to him.

"Even though he had spent some time cleaning the crime scene, or what we think he tried to do, the police have chemicals that attach to the blood, so you could actually see all the splatters on the wall."

The smell was strong, Geraghty said. And though Faye's body wasn't there, the smell still lingered.

"The smell of her being there for six days, it was in everything. There was a shirt my mom had asked me to get for her. I was in shock so I didn't really notice when I first went into the home really anything.

"It just kind of looked like she was still there and it was just a normal day, even though there was all this crime scene around me, somehow I didn't see it."

He said he took the shirt his mother wanted. He didn't notice the smell until he was halfway to the place where he was staying.

"The smell hit me. Anything that was cloth, where the shirt was sitting, where the shirt sat on the seat (smelled). We had to take the van in the next day and have it professionally cleaned."

Everything in the home had the smell from the decomposing body.

"Basically we lost everything but a couple of boxes of stuff. We kept the photos and the poetry, but we had to have a professional company recreate them."

All of the children's' toys, clothes, and everything else was not salvageable.

"Their entire life was gone. They didn't even have the common things that would make them feel at home. That was certainly something that I don't think anyone realizes."

Following his two weeks in Lennoxville, Geraghty returned to Yellowknife.

"The biggest impression for me, when you drive from the airport and the lakes there, the sky was blue ... and I just kept thinking for days how Faye, she'd never have a chance of experiencing seeing a blue sky again, seeing a sunrise again."

Geraghty was an MLA candidate in last year's territorial election, running against Sandy Lee for the Range Lake riding. He said that his sister's murder prompted him to run.

Geraghty is also working on starting a not-for-profit organization to builds parks in dedication of victims of domestic violence.

"The thinking behind that is no matter what the circumstances at home when children are at a park they're able to have some joy, some fun," he said.

Geraghty wants to focus on three communities for the parks, Yellowknife, Lennoxville and Cascapedia de St. Jules, Que.

Loach was convicted of second-degree murder in September, 2007, and will not be eligible for parole for 14 years, Geraghty said.

He is currently appealing his conviction.