Kelowna man who fatally stabbed fiancée back behind bars after near drowning

A Kelowna, B.C., man who stabbed his fiancée to death when she tried to extricate herself from their toxic relationship has again been deemed dangerous and is now back behind bars.

Ryan Quigley, 44, was sentenced to 12 years in prison less time served, starting in October 2016, for the 2014  manslaughter death of Aimee Parkes.

He was living at a halfway house and on statutory release after completing two-thirds of his sentence last August when he got into a conflict that was nearly fatal.

Quigley was at the beach when he saw a man arguing with a woman he’d recently met, according to a Parole Board of Canada decision released on Thursday.

The parole board said that Quigley then decided to intervene. An altercation ensued, and the parole board alleges Quigley held the man’s head underwater and didn’t stop until the woman called out his name.

“Later while at the (woman’s) house, Quigley stated the (man) returned, armed with a wrench, threatening to kill (him) and the (woman),” the parole board said in its decision.

The woman then gave Quigley a knife, and Quigley said he stood with it to deter the man from attacking.

“When police arrived, (Quigley) declined a ride back to the (his residence) with them and left with a neighbour to the (residence,)” the parole board said.

Quigley’s case manager directed him to the hospital to receive treatment when he got home, though they believed he planned to go to the beach to meet up with the woman again with the knife in tow.

“(His) engagement in a physical altercation and possession of a knife were a significant escalation in (his) risk,” the board said.

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Add this to the allegation that he breached several conditions and Quigley’s case management team found that his risk to the community was no longer manageable.

A warrant for the suspension of his parole was issued and Quigley was taken into custody without incident. The staff at the halfway house searched his room and found “numerous prescribed medications as well as a crushed white substance which indicated that (he) did not hand over medication to (halfway house) staff as required,” the parole board said.

The parole board said staff also suspected that Quigley was also crushing and snorting medication like he did before his last suspension, months earlier.

Given the fact that it was the second time that Quigley was deemed a risk in a matter of months — the first time following a suicide threat — the board concluded that he continued to demonstrate significant thinking errors. There was concern about his displacement of responsibility, defensiveness and minimization of his actions.

“This is most concerning given that (he) admits that (he) became so engrossed in (his) actions, (he) nearly acted to kill (his) attacker and would have done so had it not been for the third-party interference of another,” the board said.

“(His) quick and significant attachment to a female friend is also concerning given the relationship dynamics of (his) index offence.”

After weighing all of the factors of his case, the board revoked Quigley’s statutory release.

It determined Quigley’s risk to reoffend on statutory release is undue and that his returning to a halfway house wouldn’t be enough to facilitate his successful reintegration as a law-abiding citizen.

Quigley’s history is fraught with incidents of drug misuse and mental health challenges.

They came into sharp focus for the public in 2016, during a brief trial looking into a violent crime.

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His then-fiancée, Parkes, tried to break up with him after a suicide attempt for what she told friends was the “atomic-bomb” like threat he continually presented to her.

Within a day of plans to change the locks to the home she’d been paying the bills for, she was found dead, having suffered 26 stab wounds to her face, torso and arms, the court heard.

Quigley then went on the run, spending the next “two or more days living in (his) vehicle, binging on crack cocaine and pawning (Parkes’s) possessions,” the parole board wrote.

In prison, his behaviour improved with programming and continued to get better even during the initial stages of his statutory release, which started in January, the two-thirds marker of his sentence.

He made a connection to a mental health team and a substance abuse clinic, the parole board wrote, noting that a psychologist noticed his wide range of moods and emotions and was of the impression that his presentation and symptoms were impacted by cannabis consumption and an ADHD prescription.