After a shocking court case, here's how Lucas Shortreed's family wants to remember him

Lucas Shortreed’s mom considers the Friday before Thanksgiving the anniversary of her son’s death.

The 18-year-old was walking from a party in Alma to his home in Fergus on that night 15 years ago, when he was fatally struck on the street in a hit and run.

“For me, it’s always the Friday of Thanksgiving that’s his anniversary,” Judie Moore, Lucas’ mom, said in an interview with CTV News.

“I had the day off and we were moving. That’s when I got the phone call. Then the Saturday I always kind of replay having to go to the hospital and then the police interviews and stuff like that. So [Friday] is much more connected to that time than the actual day for me.”

Lucas technically died on Oct. 11, 2008.

For years, there were no answers in his case. That changed in 2022, when a tip led police to the home where the car that hit him was hidden.

In September 2023, the people responsible for his death were sentenced.

As the case made its way through court, every shocking details was made public. Moore said it felt like that became a focus of the story.

Lucas’ family is hoping to shift that focus back to the life that was lost.

“Now we can remember Lucas and all the great things that he did and his great memories, instead of being overshadowed more by the tragic tragedy and the investigation,” Moore said.

REMEMBERING LUCAS

To honour the 15th anniversary of his death, Lucas’ mom is encouraging people to be kind – like her son was.

“People are so frustrated about the lack of charges and that, but it’s time to just move on. We can’t change those charges, we can’t change the past, so we need to move on,” Moore said.

“I would ask people to be kind to each other because Lucas was so loving. And to just cherish their children and give them lots of hugs.”

Moore made a Facebook post in the days following the sentencing where she shared pieces of how she remembers her son.

“So many people didn’t know him so I just wanted to try to say the things about Luke that were so special, so that people would know a little about him and maybe make a positive change,” Moore said.

The post touches on his volunteer work at Wellington Terrace – a long term care home. The post encourages people to visit a senior in his honour.

“He worked in the gardens, planting gardens and flowers with the seniors,” Moore explained.

“I found out that after he finished his volunteer session, he had a spaghetti lunch for the [seniors] who had helped him. I found out about that at his funeral. I didn’t know, and he didn’t ask me for any help or money to do that. So it was pretty cool to learn that.”

Lucas Shortreed's family on Oct. 6, 2023. (CTV News/Stefanie Davis)

Her Facebook post also touched on Lucas’ love for food. She encourages people to donate to a food bank if they can.

“He always seemed to be eating,” Moore said with a laugh.

“I used to make spaghetti in a crock pot for supper when I came home for lunch, and when I’d come home from work it was half gone between him and his brothers. He loved pizza and everything, he just loved to eat.”

Lucas also loved cats, so Moore’s post encourages people to cuddle a cat.

She recalls about a year before his accident, he and some friends came home with an orange kitten that he wanted to keep.

“I said ‘no, we already have a cat’ and he said ‘no, I really want an orange cat,’” Moore said. She remained firm in telling him they couldn’t keep the kitten.

Lucas brought the cat downstairs to show his brother. They secretly kept the kitten without telling their mom, but she had a feeling.

“For about a week, I would sneak into the basement and see if I could catch them with that cat and it took me the week to figure out that the kitten never left the house,” she said. “They kept it.”

To his mom, sister and others who knew him, Lucas was known for his bear hugs, which is why Moore’s post encourages people to “hug someone.”

“He was very happy, funny, always laughing. He would always greet you with a big, warm hug,” Lucas’ sister Jenneen Beattie said, adding she considered her brother to be one of her best friends despite their seven year age gap.

Lucas Shortreed, 18, was killed in fatal hit and run near Alma, Ont. in 2008.

NEXT STEPS

Lucas’ family is now committed to keeping all of their happy memories of him alive.

Beattie has a 7-year-old daughter – the age she was when Lucas was born. She said it’s sad knowing her child will never meet Lucas.

“How do you talk to her about what happened in our family? But we have to have those kinds of conversations and it’s tough to decide what you edit and what you tell your kid,” she said.

With the Thanksgiving weekend here again, members of the family are coming together for what they hope is a more uplifting holiday than years past, now that they have some answers.

“Hopefully we can start, going forward, having some more memorable moments for [my daughter] at Thanksgiving and not have it be so tragic” Beattie said through a tearful laugh.

“We are now able to heal because we know what happened. We know where the car is, we know who did it. We know all that stuff. I really feel like this part of me that couldn’t heal because we didn’t have any answers is now able to start mending itself.”

On Friday morning, Moore visited her son’s grave to mark the day she considers as the 15th anniversary of his death.

On one side of Lucas’ gravestone is a carving of Piglet from Winnie the Pooh – he was known by many of his friends as Piglet, but his mom doesn’t fully know why.

On the other side of the gravestone is a poem chosen by his family that still rings true 15 years later.

“Think of him as living in the hearts of those he touched, for nothing loved is ever lost and he was loved so much.”