‘We’re enraged’: Tori Dunn’s father shares her heartbreaking final moments

Warning: This story contains disturbing details

Hundreds of mourners gathered at a vigil in Surrey Bend Regional Park Saturday evening to honour Tori Dunn, who was killed in the city’s Port Kells neighbourhood last weekend.

Police found 30-year-old Dunn suffering from life-threatening injuries in a home on 182A Street around 10 p.m. on June 16. She was taken to hospital but did not survive.

Before Sunday’s vigil, Tori’s father Aron Dunn recounted to CTV News what happened that night.

He said his daughter and her fiancé Trafford had just gotten back from a birthday party when they became the victims of a violent home invasion.

The couple were sitting on the couch, and Tori was starting to fall asleep, Aron said. Trafford was in the bathroom when he heard a “blood-curdling scream.”

He ran out to find another man in their home, cornering Tori against a wall, he said. The attacker fled when he saw Trafford, but he had already stabbed Tori.

“She knew she was dying,” the grieving father said. “Her last words were: ‘At least we don’t have to go to work tomorrow.’”

“That’s just who she was,” he said. “I think she was trying to make it easier for him.”

Police arrested a suspect nearby, who remains in custody for an unrelated charge but has not yet been charged with Tori’s killing, according to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

IHIT has identified Tori as the victim of what it describes as a “senseless act,” but has not publicly confirmed a home invasion took place or provided any other details on the circumstances of the crime.

Aron said the vigil had two purposes—to remember his daughter and to demand justice and answers.

He told CTV News he has learned that Tori’s suspected killer had a history of violent crime and was out on bail for attacking another woman when he invaded her home.

“To be taken away in the comfort of your own home, we’re enraged. We’re very upset with the justice system in this province,” Aron said.

“This is the beginning of a long journey. We’re going to fight for justice for my daughter. We want answers: How could this happen? How is this possible?”

Aron remembers Tori as “a beautiful soul of a person” who was hardworking—she owned her own business called Dunn Right Landscaping—and loved animals, especially her dog Cedar and cats Cheech and Chong.

“Heaven gained a really special angel,” he said.

Tori’s brother Lee described Tori as his best friend. “She’s the kind of girl who would give you the shirt off her back. Everybody smiles when she walks in the room, the most infectious laugh you’ve ever heard,” he said.

He told CTV News he misses singing and dancing with his sister. “She was a great dancer. She was terrible at singing but we still did it together,” he laughed.

Lee said he’s heartbroken and sad, but most of all he’s enraged.

“There needs to be some reform. This guy shouldn’t have been out walking around,” he said. “This shouldn’t have happened. It could have been prevented.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Gabriela Panza-Beltrandi