The family of a 53-year-old Aurora woman found brutally murdered in her rental home in Jamaica on Monday say they hope justice will be served.

Shirley Lewis-McFarlane was found dead, with serious injuries to her face, by a neighbour, according to local police.

“Seems like there was some blunt force applied to her face that might be the cause of her death, however a post-mortem will be conducted which will determine the cause of her death,” St. Ann Superintendent of Police Yvonne Martin Daley told the Star Thursday.

The bones in her hands and feet were also broken, says her daughter Amanda Gavigan, 29. “She was a fighter.”

Lewis-McFarlane had been travelling back and forth to Jamaica for a number of years, and had finally moved there permanently in November, said her son Shawn Gavigan, 27. She had been staying at a rental property near Discovery Bay in St. Ann’s Parish on the north coast of the island while her things were shipped down, he said.

Daley says the homicide investigation is a “top-priority” and that while they have not yet identified a suspect “it appeared whoever came into the house was somebody she might have known.”

Lewis-McFarlane was found in her bed Monday afternoon by a neighbour, who went to check on her when they did not see her come down the stairs as usual, Daley said.

Homicide detectives from the capital, Kingston, have also been called in to help, she said.

Lewis-McFarlane’s family and friends, including her three children Jasmine, 30, Amanda and Shawn have been devastated by the tragic news and are anxiously seeking answers.

“Mom, I love you with all my heart and soul, you were everything to me,” Shawn wrote in a Facebook post. “You have always been there for me even [though] we both had our bad days we would always laugh about them in the end … I love you mom and I’m going to miss you more than words can explain.”

Lewis-McFarlane would call him several times a day, just to make sure he was okay, Shawn told the Star. He last spoke to her the day before her death, and said he would give anything for another conversation.

He had been planning to join her in Jamaica in the next few weeks, he said.

“She was just a caring person. She wanted to make everyone feel welcome and happy,” he said.

His sister Amanda told the Star in an email that her mother made her who she is today.

“She was so full of life and tried to help anyone in need … She loved all her kids, and would brag about us all the time, saying she is so lucky. But really mom we’re the lucky ones,” she said.

“Not only did I lose my mom, I lost my best friend in such a malicious way. It still doesn’t seem real, but it is and I’m counting on justice to be served.”

Shawn told the Star his mother fell in love with Jamaica while vacationing there 14 years ago. She returned to Aurora for two weeks, and has been travelling back and forth ever since.

She married her second husband, a Jamaican man named Carl McFarlane in 2001.

A photo posted on Facebook by Shawn shows his mother smiling and tanned with her hair braided, beads in Rastafarian colours on one side, Canadian flag colours on the other.

Friends say Lewis-McFarlane was always quick to laugh, and usually had a smile on her face, especially while gardening.

Once, while she was in Jamaica, the three kids decided their mom’s station wagon needed a makeover, recalled Amanda.

“We got out the paint brushes and rollers and painted the car smurf blue, tires and all. When she came home to her surprise she had a brand new car. She just laughed and laughed, she never let us live it down but it has been an ongoing joke ever since.”

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Lewis-McFarlane’s older brother Donald Lewis passed away in 2010, according to an obituary notice. He was a retired York Regional Police officer like her father, Donald Lewis Sr.

A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada said Canadian officials are in contact with local authorities and are providing consular assistance to the family.

“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the Canadian citizen who passed away in Jamaica,” he said.