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Murder

UPDATE: Matthew Foerster guilty for earlier attacks against women

KELOWNA - Seven years before Matthew Foerster murdered Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest, he snuck into a young Cherryville woman’s home, knocked her head against a wall and told her to come with him. Details about the 2004 assault, and a subsequent attack involving a sex-trade worker in 2005, were revealed during a sentence hearing...

Man convicted of second-degree murder to be sentenced next year

KAMLOOPS - Robert Donald Balbar who was convicted last week of killing his girlfriend Heather Hamill in 2003 will face sentencing in 2015. Last week, Balbar - who is currently being held at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre - was found guilty by a jury who took two days to deliberate his second-degree murder charge after a...

Convicted killer due for sentencing for ramming police car

"IT DOES NOT APPEAR THAT PERIODS OF INCARCERATION HAVE AFFECTED HIM." KELOWNA – A Kelowna man with an extensive criminal history is being sentenced for using a stolen truck to ram a police car as he tried to evade arrest only one year after being released from prison for a 2005 manslaughter conviction. "It was only...

Witness in murder trial drove accused and a cooler to the river

"I NEVER LOOKED INSIDE THE COOLER AND I NEVER ASKED" KAMLOOPS – The latest witness in a murder trial told the jury Monday afternoon the man charged with second-degree murder was sketchy, anxious and not very talkative when he drove him and a five-foot-long cooler to an unmarked road near the Halston Bridge sometime in...

‘My son is psychotic and he’s just hit my wife with a hammer,’ court hears

GROSSMITH MURDER TRIAL TO FOCUS ON EXTENT OF MENTAL DISORDER AND CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY KELOWNA - On Sept. 13, 2012, Conor Frederick Grossmith, then 24, ate dinner and played cards with his parents just a few hours before he hit his mother in the head with a hammer as she lay in her bed. Six days...

Machete entered in evidence in murder trial

KAMLOOPS – The jury in a the second-degree murder trial of a Kamloops man inspected an 18-inch long machete entered in evidence in Kamloops Supreme Court Friday morning. The blade was found by retired Sgt. Steven Gehl, who investigated the forensic evidence in the death of Heather Hamill in 2003. Robert Donald Balbar is accused...

Murder re-trial begins with recorded confession from accused

GRAPHIC CONTENT ADVISORY KAMLOOPS – The re-trial for a Kamloops man accused of beating his girlfriend to death began in Kamloops Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon with a confession he allegedly made to an undercover police officer posing as a crime boss. In 2007, Robert Donald Balbar met with several undercover police officers for nearly three...

Local bus drivers plan moment of silence for murdered passenger

KELOWNA – The moment the funeral for the man stabbed to death on a Kelowna bus last week begins in Vancouver, close to 30 local transit buses will pull to the side of the road for a minute of silence honouring the man who so faithfully used their service over the past two years. Caesar...

Police need help solving five-year-old murder

KELOWNA – Five years after Kelowna resident Christopher Daniel Hetu died from multiple gunshots at a park in Kelowna, police are still looking for clues about what happened. Hetu, an unemployed construction worker who was 20 at the time of his death, was found in Millbridge Park suffering from three to five gunshot wounds in...

Matthew Foerster to appeal first degree murder conviction

ARMSTRONG - The man convicted of brutally killing an Armstrong teen is appealing his first degree murder verdict. A jury found Matthew Foerster, 28, guilty of murdering Taylor Van Diest, 18, in April of this year. The verdict carries an automatic life sentence, with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. But a notice of...

Renewed call for information in decade old homicide case

KAMLOOPS - The body of Shana Labatte was discovered in the Mission Flats area in 2004 and RCMP are again asking for help from the public in solving the decade old case. Labatte’s body was discovered near a walking trail March 23, 2004 and RCMP were quick to say the 31-year-old had been murdered. At...

House party killer appeal shot down

KELOWNA - A 29-year-old Kelowna man convicted of shooting and killing a high school student at a house party in 2007 will not be granted appeal, according to a hearing summary released Thursday. Trevor Shannon, who was 22 at the time, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012. He maintains he was trying to...

Lumby murder victim touched many lives through teaching

VERNON - A North Okanagan teacher allegedly murdered by her boyfriend will be remembered for her contagious smile, kindness and compassion. Linda Ross, a teacher in school district 22’s Alternate Learning Program, was found dead at the Trinity Valley Road home she shared with her partner, Howard Everett, who now faces a second degree murder...

Lumby shooter charged with murder

LUMBY – Murder charges have been laid against the man suspected of shooting a Vernon teacher to death before turning the gun on himself in a rural part of Lumby last week. Howard Everett of Lumby is still in hospital after the body of a 51-year-old woman was found at a home in the 300...

Charges dropped for murderer Keith Wiens

PENTICTON - Crown Counsel dropped charges last week against an ex-RCMP officer who was found guilty of murdering his common-law wife in 2011. Keith G. Wiens, who is facing a life sentence in federal prison, was charged with breaching his restrictions. Crown prosecutor John Swanson, who was assigned the case, said he was not told...

One year later, police still need help solving Glenmore murder

KELOWNA – One year after a Kelowna woman was found murdered in her Glenmore home, RCMP are still no closer to identifying a suspect. The body of Theresa Ashley Neville was found by paramedics shortly after midnight June 18 and an autopsy revealed Neville was murdered. Frank Schlief says he rented the home to Neville,...

Arrests made in three year old drive-by murder case

KELOWNA – A pair of arrests have been made in a drive-by shooting that left a Shuswap man dead in 2011. Jeremy Wayne Davis, 24, of Williams Lake and Jordan Larry Barnes, 27, of Mission, have both been charged with second degree murder for the killing of Nicholas Larsen, 24, who was shot while driving...

Community asked to lend a hand for Taylor Van Diest trail

ARMSTRONG - Murdered Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest’s family is looking to the community to help keep her memory alive. Taylor’s mother Marie pleaded with the City of Armstrong for assistance weeding and watering along the Taylor Jade Van Diest Memorial Trail, which has become overrun with weeds, but the city will only agree to...

Murderer scheduled to make official complaint against Crown

PENTICTON — An ex-RCMP officer and convicted murderer wants a Crown prosecutor removed from his case. Appearing in Penticton Provincial court Tuesday, Keith G. Wiens said he will be filing an application to have prosecutor John Swanson removed from the case, citing a conflict of interest.' Swanson didn't prosecute the murder trial; he's prosecuting Wiens...