Investigating father's murder

Photo: CTV News

A Surrey teen is hoping a $10,000 reward will encourage someone who knows something about her father’s murder a decade ago to speak out.

Christopher Whitmee was 34 when a gunman killed him in the bathroom of a Cloverdale strip club during May Long Weekend 2009, reports CTV News. Whitmee wasn’t the intended target, and ended up being caught in the crossfire of a gang hit, dying hours later.

Now, his daughter 19-year-old Lexus Whitmee has been speaking with homicide detectives and has been doing her own investigating.

"The 10 year mark is a big mark. It hits you pretty hard. He’s never coming back," Lexus told CTV News.

Lexus was nine years old when she found out her father had been killed, the day before the pair were supposed to go to a Taylor Swift concert, she remembered.

"I was sitting on the couch. My daddy had been shot and he didn’t make it. I was screaming and crying. I was so confused. I didn’t understand it. Being nine, it was kind of hard," she said.

By the time she was 12, Lexus was speaking publicly about the case, urging anyone with information to come forward.

Lexus is hopeful the public inquiry announced this week into the laundering of drug money in B.C. will make an impact by taking the money out of the criminal lifestyle.

"Hopefully that whole investigation will terminate all of the gang activity and the violence. It needs to stop," she said. "I don’t think anybody deserves to get shot."

with files from CTV Vancouver