Three charged in 2022 Penticton homicides

Three people have been charged in a double homicide nearly three years after the bodies of a Penticton couple were discovered in a burnt vehicle near Penticton.

BC RCMP said all three were arrested with one facing first-degree murder in the death of Douglas Barker.

The bodies Barker and his girlfriend Alannah Brown were found in the car near a Penticton shooting range in September 2022. The 30-year-old victims were known to have battled with addiction over the years before their deaths, according to family and friends who spoke with iNFOnews.ca.

Police haven’t released details of the circumstances around their deaths.

“After an almost three-year intensive investigation, the E-Division Serious Crime Unit has made the initial arrests of three suspects in the homicides of both Douglas Barker and Alannah Brown,” Supt. Sanjay Wijayakoon of the serious crime unit said in a news release.

Jilane King is charged with first-degree murder in Barker’s death and Simon Bourbonnais with manslaughter in Brown’s death, along with unlawful confinement of Brown. Bourbonnais and another man, Tyler Stuart are charged with indignity to human remains.

All three are facing a charge of accessory after the fact related to both their deaths, RCMP said.

Barker’s aunt, who last saw him just days before his death, told iNFOnews.ca he was planning to start a new construction job and was trying to get sober.