Family hold on to memories of Christie Marceau

Thursday, 10 November 2011

The boyfriend and family of murdered Aucklander Christie Marceau have put out a joint statement telling the teenager's friends to ''hold tight to all those happy memories'' of her.

The 18-year-old's body was found in her Hillcrest home on Monday morning.

Akshay Chand, also 18, was found at the scene along with a bloodstained knife and has been charged with Marceau's murder.

In a statement issued this afternoon by police, Marceau's boyfriend Joseph Burton-Burns and her family said it was an ''emotional time'' for them and asked for ''space and privacy to grieve over the sudden loss of Christie''.

The statement asked those who knew Marceau to remember the teen as she was.

''To all Christie's friends out there, please stay strong and hold tight to all those happy memories we have of an amazing young woman who we have lost all too soon.''

Burton-Burns has also posted heartfelt messages on Facebook and has visited Marceau's family home where she died.

'Its slowly getting better, starting to settle in that I won't be able to see Christie again all I can do is be glad that I ever met her and look back at the amazing month we had together before she had to go,' he wrote on his Facebook page yesterday.

Burton-Burns wrote that he had been back to the house with her family, re-read her diary which she had shared with him before she died, saying it made him cry.

He thanked people for their support in the wake of Marceau's death.

'I just wanted to say how amazed I was with all the lovely messages from strangers thank you guys so much, makes me feel so much better that there are people thinking of christie and her family. Tomorrow will be the hardest day of my life, saying goodbye to Christie I know that I will cry when I realise she wont wake up. I cant stop listening to the songs that Christie played me on our last weekend together.'

On a post that linked to an article based on his comments he wrote: 'Now everyone will know how much I loved you please don't forget me.'

He also sent his wishes to Marceau's grieving family.

Chand appeared in the North Shore District Court on Tuesday and was remanded in custody without plea until November 29.

Marceau's funeral is on Saturday.