2015 TOP STORIES: Major crimes across the B.C. Interior

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – This year had no shortage of crime stories, with the RCMP launching several major investigations and the courts wrapping up cases from previous years. Here is a summary of some of the top crime stories of 2015.

In August, a man was found dead in Vernon’s Polson Park. Police have kept mum on the details surrounding the death, but the case quickly became more bizarre after police took three people into custody, including a 14-year-old youth Police are still trying to piece together the events from the night of Aug. 25 and have appealed to the public for more tips. Since their arrests, the 18-year-old and 14-year-old suspects have been released from custody. 

A jury found Damien Taylor guilty of second-degree murder in October. Taylor murdered his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend CJ Fowler in December 2012 after the two travelled to Kamloops from Terrace. Throughout trial, jury members learned the two intended to sell drugs in Kamloops. Fowler travelled to Royal Inland Hospital where she learned of her pregnancy shortly before her death. She was later found near Guerin Creek with a concrete block on top of her chest. Taylor is scheduled for sentencing in 2016.

A Vernon Mountie was convicted of possessing child pornography after his wife turned him into the RCMP in 2013. Ryan Hampton was sentenced to time served and now faces other charges in Alberta where he is accused of stealing a police light bar and siren.

Police were on the hunt for a serial bank robber in the Okanagan after the suspect committed eight armed bank robberies across three provinces within 52 days. An RCMP tactical team arrested the man in Grande Prairie in January.

An investigation into the death of a 47-year-old man continues in Kelowna. The man was found dead in his home in the Black Mountain neighbourhood of the city. Neighbours say the death happened during a home invasion and that the man’s girlfriend was tied up. Police say the event was isolated. No other information has been released since July.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.