Lacey Jones Mcknight's family says system 'failed' her

Shelly Jones sits in her house, surrounded by family members.

"I miss my daughter with every, every breath I take and she did not deserve to die like this," Jones says of her daughter Lacey Jones Mcknight, 20, who was found dead in a car Thursday night.

Jones describes her daughter as beautiful, kind, thoughtful, giving and full of life.

Police discovered her body around 10 p.m. MT near the 900 block of 112 Avenue N.E.

Shortly after, police were led to another scene where they had to rescue Kristopher Guenther who was attempting to hang himself off a bridge.

He is now charged with second-degree murder in Mcknights death.

Shelly Jones said Guenther had been stalking and threatening her daughter ever since they broke up about one month ago. Jones says the police "failed" her daughter.

"Each one of these incidents was reported to police, their response was always the same: 'There's nothing we can do,'" Jones said.

"And not once did the police give us any options on what else we could do. We had started looking for other places to move so he wouldn't know where we lived, but that can't happen overnight.

"Finances is an issue and the police gave us nothing, so we just went day by day trying to be careful, checking to see what he was posting on Facebook to decide is this a good day or a bad day."

Preventing future incidents

Jones says she knows nothing more can be done for her daughter. But she wants to try and prevent a similar situation happening to other families.

"This should never ever have happened it could have easily been prevented," Jones said.

"If there are parents out there, or friends of a female that they know are going through this, do not depend on the police. You have to research your options yourself because the police will provide you with nothing.

"After the death of my daughter, I know (the police) did nothing, and its too late for her. This won't bring her back, but it might save someone else's life.

Guenther remains in hospital, andit's unclear when his first court appearance is.

Calgary police acknowledged they had numerous interactions with Guenther, and say they will take a look at all the previous interactions with the couple to see if there are lessons to be learned.