Vader sentenced to life for murders of Alberta couple travelling to BC
Posted January 25, 2017 8:52 am.
Last Updated January 25, 2017 11:21 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
EDMONTON, AB. (NEWS 1130) – A judge has sentenced a man to life in prison for killing two Alberta seniors who disappeared on a camping trip while travelling to the Fraser Valley.
Travis Vader was found guilty of manslaughter last fall in the deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann, who were in their 70s when they vanished after leaving their Edmonton-area home in July 2010. The McCanns’ son Bret says the sentence means Vader will spend the prime years of his life behind bars and the public will be protected from him.
His lawyer says Vader will appeal both the conviction and sentence.
(PHOTO: Lyle and Marie McCann)
Justice Denny Thomas dismissed a defence submission that Vader should get a lesser sentence because his rights were violated in custody.
Vader told court that he is innocent and he will continue to fight to clear his name.
The McCanns’ burned-out motorhome and a vehicle they had been towing were discovered in the days after they disappeared, but their bodies have never been found.
Thomas has described Vader as a desperate drug addict who came across the McCanns and killed them during a robbery.
Vader was arrested and held on other charges as a person of interest in the case, although he wasn’t charged with the killings until 2012.
Following a lengthy, high-profile trial, Thomas determined Vader was a desperate drug addict who came across the couple in their RV near Peers, Alta., and killed them during a robbery.
The judge initially convicted Vader of second-degree murder but, because he mistakenly used an out-dated section of the Criminal Code, later changed the verdict to manslaughter.
During a previous court appearance the judge called the McCanns “truly innocent users of the highway” before they met up with Vader. It’s not known how they were killed or who was killed first. Vader destroyed evidence and disposed of their bodies “so no one can know,” the judge added.
Defence lawyer Nathan Whitling told court that because no one knows what happened, the Crown can’t prove manslaughter beyond the lowest range.
“How can you accidentally kill two old people?” asked Thomas.
Prosecutor Ashley Finlayson said Vader deserves life in prison because he was on bail and on the run on other charges when he killed the vulnerable seniors. And he showed no remorse, using their money to buy beer and a phone card and their cellphone to call a girlfriend for drugs and sex.
