Lorrie Blackmore hopes to preserve her son’s legacy in the way that he lived, not as he died.
Devon Blackmore died on April 2, 2017 at a residence on Forestbrook Drive, after he was allegedly administered with morphine by his girlfriend, Kiera Bourque. After an investigation that ran over a year, police announced on Tuesday that they had arrested Bourque, 21, on one count of manslaughter.
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“Our family and his best friends have had an indescribable year grieving the loss of Devon. While we do not want his life to be defined by how he died, we also want justice for Devon,” Lorrie said in a brief statement.
“We want everyone who didn’t know him to know what an incredibly kind hearted, hard working, sensitive, loyal, funny, talented and generous person he was.”
According to court documents, details of which have not been proven in court, Devon had been feeling ill, with swollen tonsils and vomiting, the night before he died. Bourque, then 20 years old, had offered to inject the 17-year-old with morphine, police wrote in the document, which suggested an overdose as the suspected cause of death.
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Police and the B.C. Coroners Service have not yet confirmed the cause of Blackmore’s death.
After another injection on the morning of April 2, Devon allegedly began to feel ill, and as Bourque helped him get to the washroom he fell into a seizure. The boy did not recover after emergency crews attempted CPR at the scene.
In an interview with the Western News in March, Lorrie described her son as the type to get along with all social groups in school.
“He’s very much missed,” Lorrie said in the emotional interview earlier this year.
“Devon honestly thought that nobody really liked him. And he had 250 people attend his celebration of life. This was a kid that didn’t think that too many people liked him but made a huge impact to a lot of people in a lot of different ways.”
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A GoFundMe campaign after Blackmore’s death raised nearly $7,000 of its $5,000 goal to help pay for the family’s unexpected costs and to plan a funeral for the boy.
Among his interests, Lorrie noted his strong hockey game, having won multiple MVP awards, but his creative abilities with painting and drawing.
Bourque appeared in court Tuesday for a bail hearing, but that was pushed back to June 20, according to court records online.