Music: {allcanada} Bieber asked to help buy tombstone

Thursday, October 18, 2012

{allcanada} Bieber asked to help buy tombstone

WINNIPEG -- If anyone can help keep Cherie Richard's memory alive, her friend thinks Justin Bieber can.

Faith Buchanan figures she's sent hundreds of tweets asking Bieber for money to buy her friend a tombstone since the pop star arrived in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

"He's gone through quite a few cities and got a lot of requests for help. And he's gone and done it. And he's just an all-around good guy -- so I figured if anyone could help it would be him," Buchanan said. "I don't know. He's Justin Bieber."

Buchanan's friend Cherie Richard was fatally stabbed in July.

Cherie Richard, 20, of Winnipeg was fatally stabbed in July. (Submitted photo)

Richard's grandmother gave up her funeral plots so Cherie and her sister could be together. But the family doesn't have the money for a tombstone.

Richard and her sister Shaylene were on bicycles July 22 when they were approached by a male and two females they didn't know.

An argument followed, which somehow led up to the stabbing. Cherie Richard was rushed to hospital in critical condition, but died.

Derrick Mark Sanderson, 22, is charged with second-degree murder and breaching probation.

Buchanan said Richard's mom and sister are looking into the price of a tombstone, usually a few hundred dollars, so they can pass that information along to Bieber if he responds.

If Bieber doesn't step up, Buchanan hopes to hold a fundraiser in December.