'Heavy hearts': Vigil held for Christine Wood, man found dead in Oxford House

Emotions ran high on Oxford House First Nation Saturday night as the community gathered for a vigil to honour Christine Wood and another young man who died this week.

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Winnipeg police said Saturday morning they had charged a 30-year-old man in connection to Wood's disappearance last summer. Brett Ronald Overby, 30, of Winnipeg is charged with second-degree murder.

Oxford House Coun. Catherine Sumner-Weenusk said the news is the latest blow to her community, which lost a young man to suicide on Wednesday.

Young people in Oxford House began a walk at the young man's home before making their way to the Wood residence for a vigil.

'Heavy hearts'

There, they held hands and stood in a circle as a reverend said a prayer.

"A lot of people of course had heavy hearts," Sumner-Weenusk said.

"This is not the result they were expecting."

Coun. Tommy Weenusk watched from the sidelines as young people held signs and brought out photos at the vigil to remember their friends, who are now gone.

"It was a very, very powerful movement that was initiated by our young people," he said, adding about 100 people came out Saturday night.

Melinda Wood, Christine's mother, told CBC her family isn't ready to speak publicly, but she wanted everyone to know "we didn't give up, we never gave up on her."

Wood is from Oxford House and went missing in Winnipeg while visiting family in the city last August.

She was last spotted leaving the Days Inn on Berry Street sometime after 9 p.m., but never returned.