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"She was a pure person."

"She was a good person ... a loving person. I could go on and on about how wonderful she was."

"You would have liked her if you would have met her."

-- Maureen Kelly, speaking outside court on December 7th, 2006 – the day a jury convicted Michael White of second-degree murder in connection with the death of her daughter.

Throughout media coverage of the Michael White trial, viewers and readers were shown a number of images and photographs of Liana in life.

As the trial progressed, new images were seemingly added on a nearly daily basis, forming a collective memory of a life cut short.

Those images and photographs have been gathered here as a tribute to the slain woman.

An extensive article covering Liana's life and her mother's recollections was published by the Edmonton Journal. A summary can be found below the image gallery.

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On December 10th, 2006 the Edmonton Journal carried an extensive article that offered readers an overview of Liana's life and her mother's recollections.

Liana Clarissa Kelly Roseto was born August 12th, 1975 at the Misericordia Hospital in Edmonton.

She was delivered after 18 hours of labour at a healthy six pounds, 15 ounces.

"At that moment," Maureen Kelly told the Journal of her daughter's birth, "I believed in God."

She said Liana went from being a happy, contented baby to being an easy-going child.

The mother and daughter moved to Kelowna when Liana was four, to be closer to Maureen's family after her divorce from Liana's father, Mario Roseto.

Maureen said her daughter didn't really rebel as is usual with teenagers, except for a few months in Grade 8 when she "wore black all the time and wore too much makeup."

And the time Liana and some friends went out for an evening, the result being a fresh tattoo near Liana's ankle.

"A few days later," Maureen recalled for the Journal, "we were sitting on the couch and her sock wasn't quite pulled all the way up, and I noticed a blue tail sticking out."

"When I asked her what it was, she pulled the sock all the way down to show me the dolphin tattoo; she just giggled about it."

Ironically, it was that same tattoo that Maureen noticed on a leg sticking out from some bush in a ditch along Edmonton's northern edge in July 2005.

"When she was quite young," said Maureen, "she'd already decided she wanted to get her career going, and then settle down and have a family."

After working full time for a few years following high school, Liana enrolled in a course at Okanagan University College to become a unit clerk.

With jobs in her field scarce in British Columbia, she and her mother moved back to Edmonton in 1997.

She was hired almost immediately at the Royal Alexandra Hospital to work in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Liana and her friend Marina Perilli spent most Saturday nights dancing and having fun.

Esmeralda's, on Kingsway Avenue, was known as a hangout for military personnel, and it was there that Liana met Michael White.

Marina told the Journal that once the pair started dating, she saw Liana less and less. The relationship was intense, and progressed quickly.

For Liana, White and his military career represented financial stability, something that was important to her. White seemingly appeared stable as well.

"He presented himself as really solid, a wholesome farm boy, doesn't do drugs, career in the army," said Maureen.

Maureen found Michael to be "super polite" and to say all the right things, but he never sounded sincere. "You never knew what he was thinking. I didn't think he was genuine."

They were married February 12th, 2000. Just over eighteen months later, on November 16th, 2001, Ashley was born.

"Liana," recalled Maureen, "was absolutely exhilarated."

"She was such a devoted mother," said Liana's neighbour, Barb Jama.

Budget-conscious, Liana was an avid coupon-clipper and bargain-hunter. She started selling Avon products in her spare time to earn extra income.

"For Liana," Maureen told the Journal, "everything she did was about making a home."

However, the notion of a normal life happily ever after was tested in 2002 after White was court-martialled for stealing.

Maureen encouraged her to leave White instead of giving him another chance.

"She said to me, 'Mom, he made a mistake; everyone deserves a second chance,' " recalled Maureen. "That's who she was, always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt."

Maureen Kelly described to the newspaper how her life was turned upside-down on July 12th, 2005.

Liana's SUV had been found abandoned in a parking lot twelve blocks from home. After rushing over to her daughter's house, she described the scene as "frenzied."

Maureen recalled a parade of police officers coming and going, asking questions and contacting Liana's friends and colleagues in an attempt to find her.

That first day turned into night and soon almost everyone left.

Maureen sat at the kitchen table, with the only sound in the house being the steady snoring of her son-in-law, asleep on a couch.

Five days later, Liana's body was found. Michael White was arrested, charged with second-degree murder, and was convicted of the crime seventeen months later.

"It will be nice to have him locked up," said Maureen, "and away from Ashley so she can have a normal life."

Maureen Kelly has had custody of Ashley since her son-in-law's arrest, and the 51-year-old's world revolves around making a loving, stable home for her granddaughter.

She told the Journal that Ashley, now five, rarely asks about her father, content with the explanation Maureen gave her early on: "Daddy is in a safe place learning to be safe."

Kelly said Ashley knows her mommy is an angel, and those around her are fiercely protective and have been careful never to reveal how she died.

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