Allan Schoenborn seeks 1-year conditional discharge, 18 years after killing his children in Merritt

Allan Schoenborn is seeking a one-year conditional discharge from the B.C. Review Board, 18 years after killing his three children.

Schoenborn was found guilty of killing five-year-old Cordon, eight-year-old Max and 10-year-old Kaitlynne in their Merritt, B.C., home, but was deemed not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

For the past few years, Schoenborn has been spending most of his time at a supervised transitional care facility.

Advocates for his victims’ family say a one-year discharge is a legal stepping stone towards a full discharge.

“The absolute discharge would be he’s removed from the care of the forensic facilities here in B.C., and he’s a free citizen, and back into the community,” Dave Teixeira, a victim’s rights advocate, said.

“What we’ve heard again today is he’s not going through any real treatment programs, he’s refusing any sort of community integration programs, he doesn’t want to get a job. So all those factors, even on their own, would be concerning. Put them all together, combined with someone who has been in institutional care for 15 years and tends towards violence, it’s a big concern.”

A decision on the conditional discharge is expected in the next few days.

In 2021, Schoenborn legally changed his name to Ken John Johnson.

At a hearing in June, 2024, the board heard from Schoenborn’s forensic psychiatrist, who testified Schoenborn believes the public should “lighten up” and read his record of progress, instead of judging him.

At that hearing, the public learned that he had been allowed unescorted leave from the hospital popularly known as Colony Farm for periods of up to 28 days.

The board heard that there had been no issues arising from that leave and that Schoenborn was sorry for an outburst at his previous hearing.