BC man jailed for two killings first ruled accidents

A Kootenay man will spend at least the next 13 years behind bars after killing his landlord’s girlfriend and his friend on the same day.

Mitchell McIntyre, 66, shot his two victims nearly four years ago and, if not for his own vague attempts at admitting the crimes, he might not have been caught.

He went to police the day after, asserting he was unstable, dangerous and needed to be arrested, but he was taken to a Kootenay hospital under the Mental Health Act when he refused to explain why. He wasn’t forthcoming with hospital staff either but, over time, he raised suspicions for investigators.

“Owing to the vagueness of McIntyre’s statements to hospital officials and the understandable legal barriers in communication between hospital staff and police, police did not connect Mr. McIntyre to the two killings immediately,” Justice Paul Riley said on Jan. 8.

At his sentencing hearing in Kamloops, Riley sentenced McIntyre to a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Julia Howe, ineligible for parole for 13 years, along with a concurrent eight-year sentence for the manslaughter of David Creamer. The sentences were jointly proposed by lawyers on the case after McIntyre pleaded guilty to both charges.

Both their deaths were initially ruled as accidents before investigators later found McIntyre shot them. It was Howe’s death that turned to a homicide investigation first after an autopsy uncovered a bullet in her head, while Creamer, whose body was cremated before evidence was taken, was still considered an accidental death for weeks.

McIntyre’s sentencing hearing ran for two days, with most of Jan. 7 dedicated to statements from Howe’s and Creamer’s families who spoke of their grief, frustration and confusion over the killings.

Frank Reiner, Howe’s common-law partner and McIntyre’s landlord, told the court he has developed a drinking problem since her death, sometimes finding a neighbour took him inside after passing out midday on the porch. His mourning was coupled with months of suspicion in the community that he, in fact, killed Howe.

Since she was killed inside their own house, he’s now worried for his own safety.

“I sleep with an axe under my bed and a bat by my door, because I know the cops won’t help me. I put cameras up all over inside and outside so I can keep an eye on things,” his victim impact statement read.

He was one of seven to speak on how Howe’s death impacted him. Creamer’s two children also gave statements to the court.

“I will never be able to breathe a normal breath again,” his daughter Taylor said.

McIntyre pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Howe partway through his trial. He was soon after charged for Creamer’s death and promptly pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a firearm.

During the murder trial, Riley described the case as “unusual” in that coroners and police initially ruled both deaths as accidental.

As he sentenced McIntyre on Jan. 8, he said the details and motive still remain murky, but their deaths were certainly not the accidents investigators initially believed.

Howe was discovered by Reiner on the bathroom floor in a pool of her own blood at their Cranbrook home on Feb. 6, 2022. It was first thought that she had fallen and hit her head, but McIntyre had, in fact, shot her in the face with a .22 calibre pistol.

That same day, McIntyre drove to Kimberley where he shot Creamer in his own home, who was found sitting upright on his couch. There was small hole in the back of his head, later ruled to be a bullet wound, though no autopsy was conducted.

Riley said McIntyre had a set of grievances against both of them, but they were from years previous and the Crown didn’t argue there was evidence of pre-planning in either case. Through psychiatric reports, there was some evidence McIntyre had a history of mental illnesses, but it’s not clear how much, if at all, that factored into his crimes. In the immediate aftermath of the killings, however, doctors found no clinical signs of mental illness.

“I agree with Crown counsel that we will never really know to any degree of certainty what happened in the moments leading up to McIntyre shooting Miss Howe,” Riley said, which is a similar case to Creamer.

Although the circumstances were similar, the Crown struggled to pursue a murder charge in Creamer’s death.

“He killed both of them with the same gun, hours apart. In both cases there were cases of Mr. McIntyre’s festering a historic grievance toward the victim. Owing to the circumstances and the way in which the Creamer matter was investigated and prosecuted, the Crown has decided to accept a plea of manslaughter on that matter,” Riley said.

McIntyre did not address the court when he was sentenced.