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| David Shearing |
Imagine taking your family on an epic 2 week camping holiday. It will be awesome! You are able to pick up an old motorhome and a small boat to pack on the roof. Three generations of your family will be going on this trip, and you are really looking forward to it.
This is what the Bentley had planned in the summer of 1982. George, 66, and Edith Bentley, 59, their daughter Jackie Johnson, 40, son-in-law Bob, 44, and grandchildren Janet, 13, and Karen, 11 all traveled from their home in Kelowna to Wells Gray Provincial Park, roughly a 3 and a half-hour drive.
After the 2 weeks passed, Bob failed to return from work. This set off some red flags for his co-workers because, in his 20 years of employment, Bob had never missed a day of work. His worried co-workers called the RCMP who began a search for the missing family.
Centering around Wells Gray Park the massive search failed to find any trace of the family. It wasn't till about a month after failing to return from their trip that a mushroom picker reported that he saw an old burned-out vehicle in the woods that looked similar to the vehicle that Bob drove.
The RCMP were able to find the vehicle with the help of that mushroom picker and made a gruesome discovery; inside the vehicle were the incinerated remains of the four missing adults. The true horror would be found when the officers opened the trunk of the car and discovered the remains of the two young girls, but there wasn't much left. Whoever had killed the girls used an accelerant on the bodies.
Despite an intense search, they weren't able to locate the camper that the Bentley family had traveled in. Police received a tip that the camper was seen heading east and 2 french speaking males had been driving it. Police assumed because they were french-speaking that the men were heading to Quebec.
In order to generate more tips for the investigation, police recreated the camper - complete with the aluminum boat on top - and traveled the country to get more info. Unfortunately, the effort didn't result in any tips.
It wouldn't be for over a year that a couple forestry workers found the camper and reported it to RCMP. It had been burned just like Bob's car found earlier that year. It was about 20km from the murder site and about 30km from where Bob's burned car was found.
RCMP faced heavy criticism for the costly investigation because the camper was so close to the murder site and Bob's car. It was hard for the public to understand how it could have been missed, but it got the police thinking that the suspect must be a local that was familiar with all the convoluted trails and abandoned logging roads in the area. At least the work of the RCMP kept the case in the public eye.
A tip came in to police pointing them towards a man named David Shearing. He had a record of assault and drug possession and knew the area well. RCMP found him in Tumbler Ridge, BC where we was set to appear in court to face a possession of stolen property charge. Although there wasn't much in the way of evidence that Shearing was involved, he was brought in for questioning.
It wouldn't take long during the questioning for Shearing to admit to his crimes. Shearing stalked the family while they were camping. He had his eye on the 2 young girls. During the night he ambushed the family, shooting the adults with a pump action .22 caliber rifle. He then kidnapped the two girls, sexually assaulting them for days before shooting them in the back of the head.
In 1984 David Shearing pled guilty to 6 counts of murder. Supreme Court Justice Harry McKay described the crime as "a cold-blooded and senseless execution of six defenseless and innocent people...a slaughter that devastated three generations in a single bound. What a tragedy. What a waste, and for what?"
Shearing was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. In 2008, 2012, and 2014 he applied for parole. In 2008 and 2012, he was denied, and in 2014 he withdrew his application before a decision was made.
At his 2008 parole hearing, family of the victims stated, "Don't listen to anything he says. He has no remorse. It was like looking at the devil." and "He's a waste of a body."
Every 2 years, Shearing can apply for parole. Hopefully, if he truly has remorse for his actions, he won't apply again and make the family re-live the horror of his crimes.
Thank you for taking the time to read another story of Canada's dark side, see you next time.
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