A Salmon Arm, B.C., woman whose teenage love triangle turned deadly has been granted day parole.
Monica Joantha Sikorski was 17 years old in November 2008 when she lured her 22-year-old boyfriend Tyler Myers to Bastion Elementary School in Salmon Arm. He thought he was there to confront a 16-year-old boy he’d recently learned she’d been seeing on the side but it was actually an ambush.
“(Sikorski) walked with the victim to the back of a school where (the teenage shooter) was concealed in the trees near to where (they) were walking,” the Parole Board of Canada wrote in the document outlining her partial release.
Sikorski knew that the teenage shooter was there and in possession of a rifle. She left Myers alone and walked away into a treed area when she heard a rifle fire two to three times.
“(Sikorski) saw (Myers) run a few steps and then fall forward on his stomach and face,” the parole board document read.
Both Sikorski and the teenage shooter approached Myers and realized he was dying.
With Sikorski’s encouragement, the parole board wrote, the teenage boyfriend shot Myers again.
When all was said and done, Myers suffered three gunshots in total, including one to the back of his head, and died of his wounds.
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The next day, Sikorski and the other teen went about hiding evidence and they weren’t apprehended until 2012 when she offered up the details to an undercover police officer.
The shooter’s identity is protected under a publication ban due to his age at the time of the killing.
Sikorski pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced as an adult, which is why her name is not under a publication ban.
Sikorski, now 30, is serving a life sentence and parole eligibility was set at seven years during her 2016 trial. She is also subject to 10 year/lifetime weapons prohibition and a DNA order.
The Parole Board of Canada granted the escorted temporary absences for personal development and rehabilitation, but in doing so went over the history of the case she’s been imprisoned for and offered some insight into her time behind bars.
The parole board said that Sikorski is currently low risk to re-offend in temporary absences and low to moderate risk over the long term.
Her accountability, motivation, and reintegration potential were all assessed as high and she has a high level of remorse for her actions and acknowledges the pain she caused the family and friends of the victim, the parole board said.
She does not minimize or deflect her actions and continues to be focused on bringing positive change to her life, the parole board added, and is regularly in therapy, having completed multiple courses.
The parole board said she accepted responsibility for manipulating both her accomplice and the victim and for escalating the likelihood of a confrontation between the two of them.
“(She) agreed with the Board’s characterization that (she was a) narcissistic individual who feared being seen in a negative light,” reads the parole board report.
When asked how she was able to live for so many years before being caught without remorse, Sikorski said she’d compartmentalized.
Now that she’s trying to move forward, she’s employed within the institution she’s incarcerated in. She also finished her high school diploma as well as a post-secondary diploma in Criminal and Social Justice.
She also received certificates in dog training, which is what she wants to do for work one day.