“She deserved to be stopped for”
Daughter of fatal hit and run victim still seeking closure
Claire Newman (left) with her daughter Lauren. Lauren told The Goat this is the last photo she took with her mother. /SUBMITTED
By Spencer Hall
Over a year has gone by since the hit and run death of Claire Newman and her family still doesn’t have an answer as to who was responsible.
Newman was a member of Merritt City Council and President of the Logan Lake City Council Community Forest for 14 years. She was killed on Highway 16 near Lucerne Campground, just west of the B.C. Alberta border on July 4th, 2023, after being struck by a silver Jeep Cherokee, which RCMP estimate was made between 2016-2018.
RCMP say the crash occurred sometime between 11:45 pm on Tuesday, July 4th, 2023 and midnight on July 5th, 2023.
“Despite exhaustive efforts by the RCMP and community, the person remains at large,” Valemount RCMP said.
The Goat recently spoke to Newman’s daughter Lauren Newman, who spoke about the void left after the death of her mother.
“It’s honestly not something I would wish on anybody. I haven’t seen or talked to my grandparents much since her service. They’ve shot me a few texts here, but her boyfriend and my grandparents, we don’t talk anymore. It’s been a very big struggle for a lot of her very close friends and it has separated a lot of people. And I would say even my father — they were together for 20 something years — he’s probably never going to be the same again,” Newman told The Goat.
Newman says her goal isn’t to guilt whoever is behind her mother’s death, but she wants closure for herself and her mother’s friends and family.
“It’s just about getting the closure that people needed and knowing a little bit more about what actually happened because as her daughter and her only bloodline, I have a really good gut feeling. I know what she was doing. I was the one who got the emergency S.O.S. text and did a lot of the work to help get people to where she was,” she said. “People don’t realize that giving the honest truth could help so many people.”
Newman says Claire was in the area to help her and Lauren’s boyfriends at the time after their car broke down on the way back from their jobs in Alberta. She added that she’s the one who received the S.O.S message from her mum’s phone at about 11:55 p.m. on July 4th.
“I did a lot of the work to help get people to where she was, but it wasn’t enough,” she said. “When I got the text. I called Richard [Claire’s boyfriend] because it said my mom’s phone wasn’t receiving any calls, so I knew that was the next step to call someone else to see who else got those text messages.
Richard then called the RCMP with Lauren on the line and the pair directed police to Claire’s location.
“I don’t doubt with how many trades students there are [in the area] that this person was easily able to fix a headlight piece, but I don’t get how people wouldn’t want to want the truth to come out, because it always does, and it’s just better if you beat it to the punch than…not,” she added.
Newman says she’s since visited the scene of her mother’s accident and doesn’t understand how someone could leave her mother there.
“That is the most inhumane thing ever. That is not something that my mother would have done. My mother was a great human being and she deserved to be stopped for,” she said.
Newman remembers her mother as an open-minded individual who liked Volkswagen vans, loved animals and enjoyed being around her friends and family,
“She loved being a part of something,” she said. “She always said you have to take the good with the bad and take everything with a grain of salt. Hopefully better days are ahead.”
“Car accidents happen all the time. Things happen all the time. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do the right thing and come forward and give people the closure they need,” Newman said.
Anyone with information regarding the incident that took Claire Newman’s life, no matter how minor the info may seem, is strongly encouraged to contact the Valemount RCMP at 250-566-4466 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
“The community’s assistance is crucial in bringing closure to the family and ensuring justice for Claire Newman. The RCMP is committed to resolving this case and appreciates any help the public can provide,” RCMP said.
