Petition calling for Kiara’s boyfriend’s new guilty verdict to be ‘enforced’ hits 2,000 signatures in one day

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — The father of the Dawson Creek woman killed in Mexico has thanked the magistrate who overturned her boyfriend’s ‘not guilty’ verdict as a petition calling for the new conviction to be “enforced” has already reached over 2,000 signatures. 

Kiara Agnew, a resident of Dawson Creek, was killed in her hotel near Playa del Carmen in Mexico while on vacation with her boyfriend, Ryan Friesen, in 2023. 

Friesen was taken into custody by Mexican authorities shortly after, but was initially handed a ‘not guilty’ verdict in 2024. However, in December 2025 amid a review of the case, a judge reversed the decision and declared him guilty of femicide. 

Denise Brunsdon, partner for Bennett Jones LLP and Friesen’s lawyer, said he maintains his innocence and an appeal has already been filed. 

Brunsdon said: “Ryan remains committed to defending his innocence – including based on clear DNA evidence – and an appeal of the December 2025 decision has already been filed to the further Mexican appeals court (Amparo), where a panel of three federal judges will now review the case.” 

Trevor Agnew, Kiara’s father, told Energeticcity.ca he considers the decision a step in the right direction. 

“We would really like to thank the magistrate for looking at it and coming up with that decision,” Agnew said. 

W5, the investigative unit of CTV, released an investigative documentary of Agnew’s case, titled ‘If I’m Ever Found Dead.’ 

“I believe it was good as [they did] what could be done without having access to all the evidence,” Trevor shared. 

Tanya Agnew, Kiara’s aunt, has launched a petition to request Canadian authorities “review Friesen’s status in Canada” and have his new conviction “recognized and enforced.” 

As of January 27th, having only been live for one day, it has garnered 2,002 signatures. 

This follows an earlier petition, created by Tanya before the verdict was overturned, which called for a new law – Kiara’s Law – to “amend the Criminal Code of Canada to affirm Canadian jurisdiction in cases involving harm or death of a Canadian by another Canadian outside of Canada.” That petition has collected more than 1,400 signatures. 

Trevor hopes the government will “be able to help people going through this more.” 

He said: “Since this happened to us, we’ve barely got any help from our government.”

On the other hand, Trevor thanks the community for the support it has provided during this time. 

He shared: “I’ll never give up but all the support we have got from everybody is the reason why it has gone as far as it has. 

“We really have a strong following, and because of that, justice is slowly getting served.”