The man sent to prison for the deaths of an elderly Alberta couple has never admitted to killing them and won’t reveal where their bodies are.
Now, as Travis Vader comes up for day parole, the family of Lyle and Marie McCann say that information is necessary before any consideration can be given to his release.
“It’s critical for Vader’s rehabilitation that he admits to having committed the murder of my parents,” said Brett McCann, the son of the elderly couple who disappeared on a camping trip 14 years ago.
“This should be a prerequisite to any possibility of him ever being able to become a part of normal society again.”
On Thursday at a prison in British Columbia, Travis Vader will appear before the Parole Board of Canada and request day parole.
He was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann, following a lengthy and high-profile legal process.
The couple, in their 70s, vanished after leaving their home in St. Albert, a bedroom community directly north of Edmonton, in July 2010.
They were headed on a road trip to British Columbia and had planned to meet up with family.
Their burned-out motorhome and a vehicle they had been towing were discovered days later near Edson, about 200 kilometres west of the city.
Their bodies have never been found and it’s not known how the couple was killed.
A trial judge determined Vader was a desperate drug addict who came across the McCanns and killed them during a robbery.
“As part of this admission, Vader also needs to provide authorities with the location of my parent’s remains,” McCann said on Wednesday when speaking to Global News from Australia, where he and his wife now live to be closer to one of their children.
“It is very important to us, to myself, my family, that my parents’ remains be located and buried properly. I think it’s a critical component of our grieving.
“The one individual who knows where my parents remains are has said nothing, has admitted nothing. Vader must reveal what he did with my parents’ remains.”
If Vader’s arrest and trial had been a TV legal drama, the twists and turns would have consumed an entire season.
Shortly after the McCanns’ SUV was found, Vader was declared a person of interest and arrested on unrelated charges.
He was eventually sentenced to nearly three years for arson and break-and-enters.
In 2012, he was charged with first-degree murder in the McCann case. Shortly after, he was convicted of earlier drug, theft and weapons offences.
But before he was sentenced on those charges, a mistrial was declared. Vader filed a lawsuit that claimed RCMP and justice officials had trumped up charges against him so they could keep him in jail until murder charges could be laid.
Two years later, the murder charges were stayed just days before the trial was to begin. Mounties had failed to disclose evidence to Vader’s lawyers. Vader filed another lawsuit.
In the fall of 2014, Vader was found not guilty after a second trial on the drug charges. He was released for the first time in four years, but was rearrested within weeks in the McCann case.
The trial finally began in March 2016 and in the end, Vader was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison, with the chance to apply for parole in seven years.
On Wednesday, McCann said Vader seemed to mock the process during the lengthy trial.
“He continually smirked at the family, made obscene gestures. Did not testify. Never acknowledged his guilt,” McCann said.
“When he was found guilty, he never made a statement. And as far as I know, he’s never made a statement after that. I think it’s very important to his rehabilitation that he admit to his guilt.”
McCann said his grandchildren in Australia don’t know what happened to their great-grandparents but one day, they will be told.
In the meantime, he lives with the pain of never being able to give them a proper farewell.
McCann shared with Global News part of the victim impact statement he will deliver on Thursday.
“Fourteen years later, I think of and miss my parents often. Our family’s loss is huge. Our pain is everlasting. I will never forget or forgive what Vader has done. My thoughts of my parents all too often are interrupted by a vision of Vader killing my parents. I often find myself with an image of Vader killing one of them first.
“It is so horrible to imagine what the other person thought at that point and felt about their lifelong companion being killed before their eyes. Then they were killed in turn — hopefully, soon.
“I cannot and likely will never not think about that horrific, but hopefully brief moment in time. This is the nightmare I have and it is continually there,” he said, reading his speech.
McCann reiterated on Wednesday what he said five years ago when Vader was nearing parole eligibility: he hasn’t expressed remorse, therefore he should not be granted day parole.
“I recognize that the role of the correctional system and the parole board is to see that the offender has rehabilitated and is ultimately able to integrate back into society,” McCann said.
“I understand that principle. I’m just saying I think it’s very important that he acknowledged his guilt. I think that’s a critical component to becoming a full and active participant in our normal society.”
That said, McCann said the family is not holding its breath.
“Personally, I don’t think he ever will. I think he should stay in prison for the entire life sentence.”
McCann said Vader’s hearing for full parole is tentatively scheduled for April 2025.