James Tompkins was 16 years old when the unthinkable happened to his little sister Holly Jones in 2003.

The 10-year-old girl was raped and murdered by Michael Briere, her remains eventually found where the 35-year-old software developer had disposed of them, in Lake Ontario.

It was a nightmare for the west-end community where Holly had lived and played and gone to school — for the whole city, and the whole country. For Holly’s family, it was devastating.

For Tompkins, some measure of healing came through art. Specifically, the creation of a mural in his sister’s memory in Charles G. Williams Park on Wabash Avenue at Sorauren Avenue.

“I grew up in that park, I played basketball growing up as a kid there,” said Tompkins. So it was natural to paint the mural there, on a free-standing wall next to the court that divided the park from the old industrial property to the east.

The mural is huge, stretching across three panels of wall, centred around an image of Holly herself — painted with the help of local muralist Art Child and volunteers over the summer of 2003.

Now sometime in the coming months, thanks to a planned park redesign surrounding a redevelopment of the industrial property at 41 Wabash Ave., it will have to come down.

According to local Ward 4 (Parkdale—High Park) Coun. Gord Perks’ office, the city’s parks department has determined the wall is no longer appropriate given the four-storey residential development slated to go in on Wabash. And as the park is redesigned, the wall bearing Holly’s image will have to be replaced with another structure.

Perks said his office is working with the family to find another way to commemorate Holly Jones’ death in the neighbourhood.

“Since the possibility came up, my first duty has been to Holly’s mom,” said Perks, who contacted Maria Jones when the possibility arose.

“Before we even considered changing the way that Holly’s memorialized, I got her consent to enter into that conversation and I made a commitment to her that before we settle on something that she will be a part of that conversation.”

In an email, Maria Jones said that the family is definitely interested in seeing continued commemoration of her daughter.

“If it is possible, we would love to see the mural redone,” she wrote. “If we don’t have a choice and it is not possible to have another mural made, we suggest a bench with a plaque and maybe a tree planted in her memory. As long as we are not asking for too much. We definitely, and I believe the community, do hope for something in place, in honour for Holly.”

It makes Tompkins sad to think about losing the mural he conceived and helped create.

“I’m really upset,” said Tompkins, who like his parents still lives in the neighbourhood where Holly was taken. “I was actually planning with the original artist to redo it. We were going to get together as a community, scrape the walls of loose paint, and put up a brand new mural that would last 15 years.”

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Another commemorative installation would be essential, Tompkins said, if the mural is to be removed.

“I think another piece of art would be fine — and if that’s not possible then maybe a park bench or a tree and a plaque,” he said.