[url]http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Police+find+missing+couple+identify+person+interest/3288064/story.html[/url]
[release][img]http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/3288112.bin?size=620x400[/img]
EDMONTON — An accused arsonist with a long list of weapons charges is a person of interest in the disappearance of a St. Albert couple whose motorhome was found burning earlier this month.
RCMP said Friday they want to speak to 38-year-old Travis Edward Vader about Lyle and Marie McCann.
The McCanns’ burning motorhome was discovered July 5 near Minnow Lake campground southeast of Edson. The couple, in their 70s, is still missing and foul play is suspected, RCMP said.
“We suspect the worst and hope for the best,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Peter Hourihan said.
The McCanns’ light green 2006 Hyundai Tucson, which the couple was towing behind their motorhome, was discovered Friday in the bush off a country road near Carrot Creek, about 30 kilometres east of Edson.
It was found by a man doing work on the property, RCMP spokesman Sgt. Patrick Webb said. “He was walking along and came upon it.” The man said he recognized it from the media coverage of the disappearance and called RCMP immediately.
Vader’s sister, Alicia, told The Vancouver Sun that she and the family have not heard from Vader and do not expect to.
“Our hearts go out to the McCann family and we hope these developments lead to finding them,” she said. “We can only hope and pray that he is just a person of interest at this point and that the McCanns will be found safe.”
Though the SUV has been found, the call remains for tips from anyone who may have seen the vehicle between July 3 and July 15.
Webb said while the couple’s Tucson was located just 30 kilometres from the campground where their RV was set on fire 10 days earlier, their SUV could have been driven in any direction for days.
Police are warning the public not to approach Vader, whose criminal record in Alberta dates back to 1995 with 12 separate sets of charges, including several from the Edson area.
Recent charges include careless use of a firearm, possession of stolen property and arson, but details on any charges older than six months were not immediately available from court records.
Vader received many of his recent charges while out on bail.
The oldest charges with details available stem from an Aug. 29, 2009, incident near Evansburg. Vader faces 13 charges, including possession of a banned substance, possession of break and enter instruments, and careless use and storage of a firearm. He was released on bail.
Then on Dec. 8, 2009, he was arrested again, this time in the Barrhead area. Charges laid in that case included possession of stolen property, mischief, arson and disqualified driving.
The arson charge was for allegedly burning his own property in such a way that it threatened someone else or their property. Again, he received bail.
His next arrest came a month ago, on June 15, in Mayerthorpe. This time it was 10 charges, including possession of property obtained by crime, unauthorized possession of a firearm and careless use or storage of a firearm.
On June 21, he was supposed to appear in Evansburg Provincial Court for the August 2009 charges but never showed. The judge issued a warrant for his arrest.
Then on June 25 — 10 days before the McCanns’ motorhome was found — Vader was supposed to be in Barrhead Provincial Court for the December 2009 charges. He failed to show up again and another warrant was issued.
Vader has also run into trouble with the law in British Columbia. B.C. court documents say Vader faced several charges in January 2009 in Fort Nelson, including unauthorized possession of a firearm, resisting or obstructing a peace officer and mischief of $5,000 or under.
Alberta’s Fugitive Apprehension Service Team, an integrated unit that specializes in finding fugitives, had taken on the task of finding Vader long before he was a person of interest in the McCanns disappearance.
“They had gone to look for him, to apprehend him, but were unsuccessful,” Webb said.
Roy Getson, who said he grew up west of Edmonton in Niton Junction with Vader, said Vader had a reputation in town for being a fighter.
“That was well known about him. If he got into a bar, he’d get into a fight.”
Getson said he hasn’t kept in touch with Vader since Vader moved to B.C. a few years ago, but instantly recognized him in the photo released by police Friday.
“It’s kind of a shock,” he said.
A woman who knows Vader said he is somewhat feared in the Niton Junction community.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said some believe Vader was involved in a fire that broke out on his property in the past.
She said he’s an intelligent guy though somewhat unbalanced.
“He worked in the oilpatch and he had a very good job. But apparently he quit it,” she said, adding she believes Vader has at least six children.
Vader has some friends in the area. “He’s got a few friends around here. All shady characters, I would say, doing the same thing as him.”
She said she didn’t have any trouble with him personally. “I always got along good with him. I never had any problems with him. I didn’t socialize with the guy. If I saw him I said hello and he said hello to me, kind of thing. But that’s about as far as it went. I do know his family, though, too. They’re very nice people and they’re well respected in the area, with a lot of friends around here. It’s just too bad they have a son like that. I know they don’t allow him anywhere near their house because of the way he is and what he does, and they don’t want to be involved with that, I guess. They’re not anything like that.”
Vader was not known to the McCann family.
“Nobody in my family recognizes the name or knows anybody in that area,” the couple’s son, Bret, said. “My parents never mentioned anybody by that name.”
Bret said all sorts of scenarios are playing out in his head. “But I’m just focusing on the positive here, that these things are breaks in the case and they’re getting us closer to finding my parents.
“I have a sense that everybody in Western Canada is aware of this.”
The McCanns disappeared while on their way to a campground in Chilliwack, B.C., where they planned to meet their daughter. They were last seen at 9:25 a.m. July 3, when surveillance cameras captured them buying gas at the St. Albert Superstore Gas station. Their credit card hasn’t been used since.
Two days later, on July 5, a driver saw smoke rising above the trees near the Minnow Lake campground southeast of Edson. When fire crews arrived, they found the motorhome engulfed in flames.
Investigators are now searching an expansive rural scene, searching for anything that may lead them to Vader and the McCanns.
On July 12, a log house, four out-buildings, two tractors and a truck, along with a pile of wood, were all set on fire on an acreage just north of Niton Junction. The fires were suspicious, and Webb said RCMP have been looking into whether they are related to this case.
Vader is described as six-foot-two, approximately 230 pounds, with hazel eyes. Police say he is a known drug user.
Vader’s Facebook page identifies his hometown as Summerland, B.C., and his occupation as a self employed “drilling consultant.”[/release]
The Force is strong in this one.
He bears quite the resemblance to Vader at that point in the Return of the Jedi where Vader takes his mask off.
I thought it was going to be the band
He used force arson
.... Toby?
My Grandma knows who that couple is :ohdear:.
Vader puns everywhere up in this bitch.
At first I was like "lol Darth Vader". Then I opened the thread and was like :geno:.
This guy is crazy.
I never did tell Vader that he killed his loving partner.
Better give him the news whilst I put his new suit on.
Leave the poor guy alone, he obviously had Daddy-issues as a kid
Vader pull that shit one more time and i swear.
[editline]12:14AM[/editline]
[quote=pyrofiliac;23432945][img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_thr3szhbq_e/r8we-_rckri/aaaaaaaaaik/5hvtfk9_uiw/s400/01+luke.jpg[/img][/quote]
Dammit.
the McCanns and Vader in one story
[QUOTE=pyrofiliac;23432945][img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_THR3SZhbQ_E/R8WE-_rcKRI/AAAAAAAAAik/5HVtfK9_UIw/s400/01+Luke.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
Only Imperial Storm Troopers could do this.
[QUOTE=PeanutTHENINJA;23439436]Only Imperial Storm Troopers could do this.[/QUOTE]
Look how totally fucking accurate those blast points are.
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