Father and son arrested in Taylor Van Diest murder case
Posted April 5, 2012 1:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
ARMSTRONG (NEWS1130) – RCMP say a father and son have been arrested in the murder of Taylor Van Diest in Armstrong.
Matthew Stephen Foerster, 26, has been charged with second-degree murder, sexual assault, and unlawful confinement. His dad, Stephen Roy Foerster, 58, has been charged with accessory to murder and obstruction of justice.
The younger Foerster, a former resident of Cherryville BC, has also been charged with one count of sexual assault and unlawful confinement in connection with an April 2005 sexual assault of a Kelowna woman. More charges have been laid in connection with a home invasion that took place in October of 2004 in Cherryville, in which a 19-year-old young woman was assaulted.
Just before 11 a.m.Wednesday, Mounties arrested the 26-year-old on a Canada wide warrant, at a motel in Collingwood, ON. He was apprehended without incident and is being brought back to BC to answer to the charges.
Matthew’s father, who still lives in Cherryville, was arrested without incident at his home around 2:20 p.m. also on Wednesday.
While the two men have been arrested, the investigation is ongoing. RCMP are still trying to figure out the events leading up to the young woman’s death, and they are trying to establish a detailed time line of Foerster’s activities on the day and night of Van Diest’s murder.
Family members are relieved that arrests have been made.
Taylor’s mom Marie Van Diest has been hoping and praying this day would come. “We’d like to thank the community and everybody who has supported us with their generosity, kindness.”
She says she knows what evil looks like now that Foerster has been charged. “Today is a day filled with mixed emotions. We can finally direct our anger at a face. Now I know what evil looks like.”
The 18-year-old was savagely beaten on her way to a Halloween party in Armstrong last year, she died in the hospital soon after.
As far as police know, Van Diest didn’t know the accused and the attack appears to be random.
