RCMP Watch

Ian Bailey and Justin Hunter, Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. (Globe and Mail) - The RCMP, caught up in an intense manhunt for Allan Schoenborn – wanted in the stabbing deaths of his three children – are trying to figure out what caused a delay in investigators receiving a tip that he had been seen outside an Okanagan store.

“We are looking into why the investigative team did not get the information about this tip in a timely fashion,” RCMP Constable Annie Linteau, speaking for the force, said Monday.

Last Wednesday, staff at the Cherryville Emporium saw a man they believed to be Mr. Schoenborn, but police did not follow up on the tip until Saturday.

“We certainly believe this to be an isolated incident,” Constable Linteau said of the delay. She said police have concluded that the man, who came to cash in 10 beer cans at the store, was not Mr. Schoenborn, who has not been seen since his three children were found dead in Merritt on April 6.

“I can’t really go into details,” she said. “All I can say is there are certain elements of this particular tip that lead investigators to believe it’s not him.”

Constable Linteau rejected suggestions that the trail has gone cold. “Look, we always persevere in any investigation,” she said. “We are still very active in this investigation.”

But as investigators work their way through 250 tips, she conceded, “He could be anywhere.”
His children – Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5 – were discovered dead by their mother, Darcie Clarke, after she left them in their father’s care at the family’s mobile home in Merritt.

Since then, police have faced tough questions about delays in launching a search for Mr. Schoenborn, who had been estranged from his family, and why they took a day to warn the public that he was at large and dangerous.

In Victoria, Attorney-General Wally Oppal brushed off calls for a broad review of how the justice system deals with domestic violence.

“I don’t know there is anything more we can do than we are already doing to improve the system,” he told reporters yesterday.

Carole James, the NDP Leader, said the justice system failed the Schoenborn children and their family, and called for a review of “what the authorities knew and what the justice system did or didn’t know.”

The RCMP, who had arrested Mr. Schoenborn three days before the killings over a separate incident, had opposed his release on bail. Had their warnings been heeded, Mr. Schoenborn would have been in custody on the day the slayings were committed.

However, there are still questions about whether the RCMP presented at the bail hearing key court documents that would have shown Mr. Schoenborn’s common-law wife had a protection order against him, which he had violated. A transcript of the hearing shows the justice of the peace was assured there was no “friction” at home.

“I think what we have to do in the circumstances is to await the results of the [coroner's] inquest,” Mr. Oppal told the legislature.

“And, in the event that there is an apprehension of a suspect, and in the event that there are charges laid, we’d have to await the outcome of the trial. In the meantime, I think we have to give support to the victims – the mother and the whole of the community – for this horrible tragedy that has taken place.”

Meanwhile, there was a small but emotional gathering Monday at the provincial legislature of people calling for better protection for vulnerable children.

About a dozen people handed out pink ribbons and buttons on the steps of the legislature.
Reporters outnumbered others but organizer Kathleen Walker said members of the group wanted to remember 10-year-old Kaitlynne, eight-year-old Max and five-year-old Cordon, who were found slain in their home in the B.C. Interior community of Merritt on April 6.

Ms. Walker said the group is also remembering six-year-old Christian Lee, of Oak Bay, B.C., who was killed by his father in a murder-suicide last year.

The protest comes two days before the B.C. government is set to receive a report on the deaths of four children who were in government care.