Carl Joseph Steadman found Unconcious outside of bar

Carl Steadman was in my sister's grade in Junior and High School. He was tall and could be considered imposing for his size. But I remember that smile. A smile the lit him up and caused you to smile as well.

He was always nice to me. Which says a lot as Junior and High School for me, was difficult. I was bullied and treated badly for a long time. You see, I was very shy and let people say things and do things that would directly or indirectly hurt me, both physically and emotionally. I did not have the ability, at the time, to stand up for myself. I was afraid most of the time. Ah, but I am not the point of this story. Carl is.

Carl was nice to me and so was his brother, Andrew. When I heard what had happened to Carl, my thoughts went to Andrew. Where is he? I hope he is okay. I hope he is surrounded by people that are comforting him during this horrific time.

I first found out about Carl's death on Facebook. There was a group created to memorialize him. Then a day or two later, the only guy from that high school that I still keep in touch with, called me to see if I knew what happened.

Carl had been in Fort McMurray, Alberta looking for work. He went out to a bar called "Diggers Variety Club". In the wee hours of the morning on February 9th, the police were flagged down and Carl was found unconcious. Carl died that day in hospital. Apparently there should have been many witnesses. Apparently there is security video that indicates there was an "incident" or "confrontation". Yet there is nothing so far that has identified suspects. Or atleast if there is, the information is not being released.

Carl Joseph Steadman, a guy who impacted my life, warranted a couple of small articles in local news papers. That is all?! How can that be? He meant a lot to his family, to his friends yet they treat him as worthy of only a few paragraphs in small press releases.

I REMEMBER him!! Many remember and mourn his passing. He was worth more than what he got. Why are the police not bombarding the press with pleas for information? Why did his murder, if it was murder, not warrant air time or newspaper articles, on major news channels or space in major news papers? I could not even find a single hit on google news for Carl. The links I did find were located after much searching.

Was it because he was found outside of a bar? Was it because he was black? Was it because he was not an Alberta grown boy? None of that matters. A light has been extinguished too soon. A family needs justice. Friends need comfort in the knowledge that a murderer (or murderers) is answering for his (their) actions.

What would you do?

What would you do if you knew and could not change....

the 16 year old girl you said "See you Monday" to on Friday was going to shoot herself to death on Sunday...

the sweet, nice guy that you knew in high school that had an infectious smile was going to be murdered outside of a bar in red neck, small town Alberta in 18 years...

the sweet cleaning lady that gave you a jewellry box for Christmas would be ravaged by cancer and leave three beautiful children and a husband to mourn...

the friend that always saved you from having to take the bus from Calgary to Lake Louise or vice versa would die in a a truck crash hours after he left Lake Louise to drive the long drive home, for good...

I have pondered these questions long and hard. The above have all happened in my life. There are many others, but these ones are on my mind lately. Life can be so heavy on your heart. Especially when these points of lights in your life are taken so brutally, so cruelly, and far too soon.

I will be writing more on each of these individuals soon. Some posts will be more personal, but one will be because I am concerned. Concerned about what, if anything, is being done to find a killer or killlers.