B.C. Review Board lets child killer Schoenborn keep eligibility for 28-day leave

The British Columbia Review Board has ruled that Allan Schoenborn, who killed his three children in 2008, will keep his eligibility for up to 28 days of unescorted leave from a Metro Vancouver psychiatric hospital.

In a decision posted online by Dave Teixeira, a spokesman for the children’s relatives, the board says Schoenborn must not possess weapons, use alcohol or non-approved drugs or have contact with the relatives.

The decision also acknowledges Schoenborn’s name change to Ken John Johnson, a move that led the provincial government to propose legislation to prevent those convicted of serious crimes from changing names in the future.

He was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his children, aged five, eight and 10, whose bodies were found in the family’s Merritt, B.C., home in 2008, but a judge ruled he was not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.

Schoenborn has been held at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., since 2010, but in 2022 the Review Board granted the hospital director discretion to allow him up to 28 days of overnight leave.

Teixeira says on social media platform X that the decision is disappointing given that all parties at the board’s hearing earlier this week agreed that Schoenborn remains a risk.

He says family members of the children are tense, especially after learning at the hearing that Schoenborn had been placed on a waiting list for a transitional housing facility that may eventually lead to a full discharge.

The hearing and decision this week came after an earlier hearing in April was abruptly adjourned after Schoenborn’s lawyer said he would no long appear in front of the board’s current panel.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press