Murder
Judge to hear evidence against Lumby man accused of murder
VERNON - A Lumby man accused of murdering his girlfriend, a local teacher, is before a provincial court judge this week. A preliminary inquiry for Howard Everett Krewson, also known as Howard Everett, began Wednesday, Feb. 4 and is scheduled to last five days. Krewson, 55, was charged with the second degree murder of Linda...
Accused in Clearwater murder case awaiting bail review
KAMLOOPS – A man accused of murdering his former common-law wife and taking their three children hostage will find out if he is eligible for bail in a week. Iain Drummond Scott, born 1972, appeared for a bail review last week in Kamloops Supreme Court. Details of the hearing are covered by a publication ban...
Lillooet assault now a murder investigation
LILLOOET - A 43-year-old Lillooet man could be charged with murder after the man he's accused of assaulting died of his injuries. The incident happened Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015 at 3:04 p.m. on the 300 block of Mitchell Road in Lillooet. Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police were called to investigate a report of a serious assault and...
2014 NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR: Matthew Foerster, convicted murderer
THIS WEEK, INFONEWS.CA IS COUNTING DOWN THE TOP FIVE NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR. ARMSTRONG - A murder trial into the death of an Armstrong teen concluded in 2014, putting the Cherryville man at its center behind bars for at least 25 years. The gruesome details of 18-year-old Taylor Van Diest’s murder at the hands of...
UPDATE: Name of suspect released in Cherry Avenue homicide; residents react
KAMLOOPS - Police have now filed murder charges against a resident of the 435 Cherry Avenue apartment building after police discovered the body of a 26-year-old woman Tuesday afternoon. Christopher Frank Butler, 41, was charged with second-degree murder around 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The victim was Deanne Genevieve Wheeler, 26, according to police. Const. Jason...
Local bus drivers plan moment of silence for murdered passenger
KELOWNA – The moment the funeral for the man stabbed to death on a Kelowna bus last week begins in Vancouver, close to 30 local transit buses will pull to the side of the road for a minute of silence honouring the man who so faithfully used their service over the past two years. Caesar...
Murder re-trial begins with recorded confession from accused
GRAPHIC CONTENT ADVISORY KAMLOOPS – The re-trial for a Kamloops man accused of beating his girlfriend to death began in Kamloops Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon with a confession he allegedly made to an undercover police officer posing as a crime boss. In 2007, Robert Donald Balbar met with several undercover police officers for nearly three...
Machete entered in evidence in murder trial
KAMLOOPS – The jury in a the second-degree murder trial of a Kamloops man inspected an 18-inch long machete entered in evidence in Kamloops Supreme Court Friday morning. The blade was found by retired Sgt. Steven Gehl, who investigated the forensic evidence in the death of Heather Hamill in 2003. Robert Donald Balbar is accused...
Witness in murder trial drove accused and a cooler to the river
"I NEVER LOOKED INSIDE THE COOLER AND I NEVER ASKED" KAMLOOPS – The latest witness in a murder trial told the jury Monday afternoon the man charged with second-degree murder was sketchy, anxious and not very talkative when he drove him and a five-foot-long cooler to an unmarked road near the Halston Bridge sometime in...
Accused in murder case said he embellished confession to impress crime boss; acted in self-defense
KAMLOOPS – The man who confessed to an undercover officer posing as a crime boss said he embellished some of his facts to convince him he was was a trustworthy employee of a false criminal organization. Robert Donald Balbar is on trial for the second-degree murder of his girlfriend Heather Hamill. After Crown wrapped its...
UPDATE: Matthew Foerster guilty for earlier attacks against women
KELOWNA - Seven years before Matthew Foerster murdered Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest, he snuck into a young Cherryville woman’s home, knocked her head against a wall and told her to come with him. Details about the 2004 assault, and a subsequent attack involving a sex-trade worker in 2005, were revealed during a sentence hearing...
Man convicted of second-degree murder to be sentenced next year
KAMLOOPS - Robert Donald Balbar who was convicted last week of killing his girlfriend Heather Hamill in 2003 will face sentencing in 2015. Last week, Balbar - who is currently being held at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre - was found guilty by a jury who took two days to deliberate his second-degree murder charge after a...
Convicted killer due for sentencing for ramming police car
"IT DOES NOT APPEAR THAT PERIODS OF INCARCERATION HAVE AFFECTED HIM." KELOWNA – A Kelowna man with an extensive criminal history is being sentenced for using a stolen truck to ram a police car as he tried to evade arrest only one year after being released from prison for a 2005 manslaughter conviction. "It was only...
Slain Vancouver-born actress asked dance teacher not to judge rapper husband
VANCOUVER – The first question Stephanie Moseley's former dance teacher asked the Vancouver-born actress when the cable TV star last dropped by her old studio was about her gleaming engagement ring.
‘My son is psychotic and he’s just hit my wife with a hammer,’ court hears
GROSSMITH MURDER TRIAL TO FOCUS ON EXTENT OF MENTAL DISORDER AND CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY KELOWNA - On Sept. 13, 2012, Conor Frederick Grossmith, then 24, ate dinner and played cards with his parents just a few hours before he hit his mother in the head with a hammer as she lay in her bed. Six days...