Do the right thing and give us closure.

That's the plea from the family of Aaron Webster, 41, who was set upon and beaten to death in Stanley Park 15 months ago.

The case remains unsolved, but it is such a priority with Vancouver police that half the homicide squad is working on the file.

Last week, a 19-year-old Burnaby man was charged with manslaughter in Webster's death.

Prosecutors will try to keep the young man in custody when his bail hearing begins Tuesday. He was 17 at the time of Webster's killing, but will be tried as an adult.

Meanwhile, there's the question of the other young men who clubbed a mild-mannered gay man to death. How many were there, who are they and what is their part in the killing?

"He only had half his life," said Aaron's mother, Joan Prokopetz, who came down from Armstrong to speak publicly for the first time.

"As a mother, I thought I would die first, and that's how it should happen.

"Aaron had a right to live his life his way. It was a hate crime. Sexuality -- that shouldn't matter. We need to be more tolerant.

"I plead with anybody out there who has any knowledge to do with this to come forward, that we can bring some sort of closure to this.

"I will die with this terrible grief."

Webster's sister, Faith Quintillan, who flew in from Calgary, recalls her brother as a big softie.

"He was the most un-violent person there was," she said. "I remember as a young girl in school, Aaron had a real problem with people beating him up.

"He was a big kid. He would never, ever fight back.

"I remember one time leaving school. He was getting beaten up by two boys and I was smaller and I

came up with my books and slammed them on the

head."

At the same time, Quintillan wanted people to know that while Aaron was gay, it was a "very, very small part of Aaron's life and who he was as a person."

"Why do we have to call somebody gay? Why do we have to put labels on people?" she said.