Calgary 2021 cold case: Daughter still searching for answers to mother’s murder

The 19-year-old daughter of a murdered woman whose case has gone cold is pleading to the public for more information about what happened.

Norma-Jean Muirhead was found dead in her vehicle at around 3 p.m. on Dec. 2, 2021, along the 500 block of Cranston Drive SE.

Officers found her in her vehicle unconscious and unresponsive. Paramedics pronounced her dead on scene.

Investigators have not shared Muirhead’s cause of death, but note it happened on the morning of Dec. 1, and that she was targeted.

The Calgary Police Service recently asked the public for help in its investigation, as no new developments have arisen in the last three years.

“It’s been difficult. Beyond difficult,” Ryelee Bogs told 660 NewsRadio. “It’s really hard to try and process her death while not knowing what happened.”

“She was my best friend.”

Bogs, who is currently living in B.C. with her father and brother, says Muirhead was a “bright light” in her life.

“She always brought light into the darkest parts, and I lost that light, and it’s been really difficult to navigate my life without my mom,” she said.

A lack of answers has made it difficult for Bogs to process her mother’s death.

“It’s hard to think about the fact that nothing has come of it yet, and it’s been incredibly difficult on myself and my family,” she said.

Officers say Muirhead and her children moved to Calgary in 2020 from Trail, B.C., just a month before she was killed.

“Every day without answers is a day filled with sorrow and uncertainty for Norma-Jean’s family, especially her two children who must endure the unimaginable pain and heartache of going about their lives without their mother,” said Det. Lacey Murdock of the CPS Homicide Unit in a news release.

Bogs says her mother was excited to see her turn 18 but never saw that day come.

“I’m now 19, and I’ve been through a lot since I was 16, and I’ve had a lot of big life accomplishments and a lot of milestones, really big ones, that she should have been here for,” she said.

She adds Muirhead was loved by so many people, and finds it hard to think of who would do something like this.

“With cases like this, it’s hard to view it like a real-life situation,” she said.

“But I feel like it’s important for people to acknowledge that this is a real thing that has greatly impacted my life and my family’s life, and any information is really important.”

Police ask anyone with information related to Muirhead’s death to call them at 403-266-1234 or leave a tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

With files from Tiffany Goodwein