Halifax police say they were caught off guard by emotional criticisms levelled at them by the parents of murdered university student Loretta Saunders.

Mariam and Clayton Saunders told NTV News on Wednesday that Halifax police had deliberately misled them about their daughter’s murder and did not even return their phone calls during the course of their investigation.

The couple said they can forgive the suspects charged in their daughter’s death, but they can’t forgive the police who they feel deliberately misled them.

But police say they kept the family informed through a police liaison as details were confirmed and insist they never heard a complaint from the family until the story aired on CTV News.
"I can tell you that we would never offer false information to a family member," says Const. Pierre Bourdages of the Halifax Regional Police.

Loretta Saunders' body was found on a snow-covered median off the Trans-Canada Highway near Salisbury, N.B. on Feb. 26.

The 26-year-old Inuk woman from Labrador, who was studying at Saint Mary's University, had disappeared from Halifax on Feb. 13.

Police allege Saunders, who was three months pregnant, was killed the same day she was last seen at a Halifax apartment she once shared with the two people accused in her death.

"We have a family here that is in grief,” says Bourdages. “They lost a loved one and it takes a lot out of them and, out of respect, to address these concerns directly with them.”

Cheryl Maloney, president of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association, has been by the family’s side since Loretta disappeared. Maloney backs the family’s claims, saying they struggled to get timely information from police.

"We asked pointed questions during the early days and you know, they say there are liaisons, but they're not always getting the news first. We got most of the news from the media," says Maloney.

Loretta’s criminology professor says she was studying police relationships in her thesis, which examined cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women.

"One of the major issues she identified in cases of missing and or murdered indigenous women was the legacy of distrust between police forces and indigenous peoples," says Darryl Leroux.

The Saunders family is hoping to organize a nationwide vigil in Loretta’s memory, with events to be held in communities across the country on March 27.

CTV News reached out to the Saunders family Thursday but calls were not returned.

Victoria Henneberry, 28, and Blake Leggette, 25, have been charged with first-degree murder in Saunders’ death. They are due back in court April 9.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Marie Adsett and NTV's Christina Marshall-Jeenes