Edson triple homicide
Peers — A small community in west-central Alberta was in shock Monday after police announced that a man, a woman and a teenage girl had been killed in a triple homicide, and that the killer or killers remain at large.
RCMP Insp. Gibson Glavin told a news conference Monday in Edmonton that RCMP had ruled out a murder-suicide, and were treating the case as “a very serious and complicated investigation.”
RCMP have not released the names of the victims or their relationship to each other, but multiple sources have identified the adult victims as Roxanne Ruth Berube and Dan Miller.
The bodies were found in a family home near the town of Peers at about 1:50 p.m. Sunday, after officers received a call for assistance from outside the house.
Police said the bodies displayed “obvious signs of trauma.”
An RCMP forensics van and a Yellow Head County Fire Rescue Incident Support Unit remained parked at the property Monday afternoon.
The house was shrouded by trees, and not visible from the road. A number of dilapidated vehicles were lined up along a fence at the north edge, covered in snow. A gate near the end of the driveway bore a small sign which read: “No hunting, no trespassing.”
There was little traffic on the curving country road Monday afternoon, besides a few police vehicles entering and leaving the property.
Nancy Walters, who manages the front desk at the Guest House Inn and Suites in Edson, said Berube worked at the hotel as a housekeeper a few years ago. She said she was shocked when she heard the news Monday morning. She remembers Berube as “happy and bubbly.”
“She was good at her job. Everybody liked her,” Walters said.
She said Berube was a “good mom.”
“She was always talking about her children,” she said.
Kelly Lovdahl, who owns the Peers Hotel, said people in the community are “really shaken and scared.”
“They were really nice people,” said Lovdahl.
Yellowhead County Mayor Gerald Soroka said the incident is concerning, but that the community would wait for more information from police. He said he didn’t think people in the area would be concerned for their safety.
“It’s still a lot of unknowns,” Soroka said.
Glavin said police are “talking to anybody who knows the family, anything to do with the residence, anything that might help us understand what happened here.”
“We’re pursuing every line of inquiry right now,” he said. “No one has been arrested. No one has been charged. No warrants issued at this time.”
He said police do not believe the public is at risk, but urged people to be cautious and not approach anyone they suspect may be involved in the case.
The time and cause of deaths will be determined by the medical examiner following autopsies.
Peers has been the site of intensive police investigations in recent years. St. Albert seniors Lyle and Marie McCann are believed to have been killed near the town in the summer of 2010. Travis Vader, the accused in that case, was in court this week, as his lawyer argues murder charges against him should be stayed because of abuse of process.
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