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For 23 years, Wilma Derksen has wondered what happened to her 13-year-old daughter.

Candace Derksen was walking home after school on Nov. 30, 1984, when she was abducted from a busy Winnipeg street. She wasn't seen again until mid-January when an employee looking for an old saw found her frozen body in a remote shed, less than half a kilometre from her parent's home.

More than two decades after the mystery began, Winnipeg police believe they've cracked Candace's case through DNA testing.

As police detailed the arrest Wednesday of Mark Edward Grant, 43, Ms. Derksen sat glassy-eyed, her mouth in a thin line until asked about her daughter.

"She was wonderful ... She was a very sanguine personality. She just loved life and loved people," Ms. Derksen said, her face brightening.

"She was the social person in our family and just brought the joy and the gaiety of that era, and her youth and her enthusiasm.

"But I'm her mother," Ms. Derksen said with a light laugh. "I'm remembering her in that light and I think that's how people remember her too, and will continue to remember her like that, as a beautiful spirit that was just growing up, just young."

Ms. Derksen, who has two other children, said the family has tried to move on. Her husband Cliff said they fully expected to go the rest of their lives not knowing what happened - or why.

"Having answers does make a difference in our lives, and will to everyone who remembers the crime. Justice is important. Finding truth and holding someone accountable for their actions re-establishes a sense of safety for us all," Cliff Derskesn said.

"We are grateful for this moment."

This moment came because their daughter's case was assigned to the newly formed Winnipeg police Cold Case Unit in 2006, said Chief Jack Ewatski.

Chief Ewatski said investigators re-examined the forensic evidence in the case, sending the results to an independent Canadian lab for testing. He gave few details.

Based on DNA tests, officers in the unit arrested Grant Wednesday morning. Grant has been charged with first-degree murder.

Grant is on Manitoba Justice's sexual offender notification site, which says is accessible only to Manitoba residents, but has no mechanism to stop anyone from entering the site.

A notification, posted on Dec. 16, 2005, says Grant has been convicted of sexual assault and other violent offences, but does not give any details. It also says women, and both boys and girls, "are at risk of sexual violence."

Grant's history of court cases and file numbers stretch as far back as the records go on the Manitoba courts website - 1984 - the same year Candace went missing.

For the Derksens, who still live in Winnipeg, news of the arrest brings both comfort and sorrow.

"Of course, with this comes a renewed sense of sadness that has never left, and never will, at the loss of our daughter. It also reminds us of the horrors of her passing," Cliff Derksen said.

The Derksen family may have tried to move on, but they've left a legacy that's moved outside Manitoba. Their daughter's disappearance and death prompted the creation a local chapter of Child Find, the national organization dedicated to helping missing and exploited children.

"When Candace went missing, it was realized there was no agency available, over and above law enforcement, to help families walk through this tragic and complicated process," said Lianna McDonald, executive director for Child Find Manitoba.

"It was Mrs. Derksen who was a champion to realize that families needed a network, needed support to navigate through a tragedy such as a missing person."

Child Find Manitoba became a charity in April 1985, just four months after Candace's body was found.

In January 2005, the Manitoba chapter launched cybertip.ca, a national website designed to take tips from the public on child exploitation. Since it was established, cybertip.ca has helped police make 27 arrests.

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