Man serving time for second-degree murder escapes from B.C. prison

MISSION, B.C. – A 41-year-old convict serving time for murdering a Vancouver man is now on the run after escaping from a British Columbia prison.

The Correctional Service of Canada says Norman Riel was reported missing from the Mission Institution, a minimum-security prison located in the Fraser Valley, at about 4 p.m. Sunday.

RCMP in Mission say Riel was last seen getting into a white Suburban waiting outside the prison, about 70 kilometres east of Vancouver.

He was serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Patrick Pugh.

Pugh was shot in the head during a home invasion at his east Vancouver penthouse in September 1994.

Riel was arrested following an undercover operation in Las Vegas in early 1995 and was convicted of the murder three years later.

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