Family of Colchester fatal stabbing victim Hailey Colyer speaks out

By Anna Guber

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    COLCHESTER, Vt. (WPTZ) — It’s been nearly three weeks since Sydney Bowles learned her sister, Hailey Colyer, was murdered in Colchester, but Bowles said the news still doesn’t feel real.

“I’m still trying to wrap my brain around it,” Bowles said.

Court documents show on May 8, Colyer, 24, took a Lyft ride from Milton to a home in Colchester, where she was set to meet Elijah Compagna, 27. According to documents, Compagna claimed to have met Colyer through a prostitution website and invited her to his home to have someone to talk to.

When Colyer asked for money and wanted to leave, Compagna allegedly attacked her. He then covered her mouth with tape to prevent her from screaming, and stabbed her multiple times with a pocket knife before he slit her throat.

Compagna has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder.

Bowles, meanwhile, said her sister leaves behind family and friends grieving her devastating loss.

“I go to message her all the time. We didn’t talk every day, but frequently, and then it’s just like ‘oh she’s not there,'” Bowles said. “And that’s my baby sister, not my big sister, so just the thought of that is really hard to come to terms with.”

Bowles said Colyer was a light in every room and every life she entered.

“It’s like Hailey had that halo,” she said.

Harmony Daley, Colyer’s mom, said her daughter had faced many battles throughout her life, including mental health, addiction, and, at times, homelessness.

However, Daley said she admired her daughter’s strength through every struggle.

Since learning the news of her daughter’s death, Daley said she’s been haunted by the details of her daughter’s final moments.

“Nobody got enough time with her yet,” Daley said. “And I keep having recurring nightmares of those 20 minutes [when she was killed].”

Daley said she’s drawing strength of her own from the outpouring of love and support she’s received across all walks of her daughter’s life.

“When your friends and your community stand with you and show up for you, they give you their support, it’s a whole different level because it means you’re not alone,” she said.

Now, as Daley and Bowles prepare to lay Colyer to rest on Sunday, which would have been her 25th birthday, they said that support is holding them up.

“She was more than just her end,” Bowles said.

Colyer’s family has started a GoFundMe to raise money for funeral expenses.

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