Canadian True Crime - The Wells Gray Park Murders

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

In August 1982, three generations of a family set out for a two week camping trip in the wilds of British Columbia.When the entire family failed to return home, it triggered the most expensive and publicized manhunt in Canadian history — and uncovered a horrific truth that shocked the nation.Additional content warning: this episode includes the murder and sexual assault of a child. Minimal graphic details will be given. Please take care when listening.________________________________________SIGN THE PETITION | The Johnson-Bentley family needs your help. The man who murdered six of their loved ones – including two young girls, is again seeking parole in 2026. The family has asked us to share this updated and remastered episode to remind the public of the danger his release could pose.Please read and sign the family’s petition now and show your support. The deadline is fast approaching. Special thanks to Shelley Boden of the Johnson-Bentley family for speaking to us for this updated and remastered episode. The original, titled "The Johnson-Bentley Family Murders" was posted in April 2021. ________________________________________Let us know what you think. Follow Canadian True Crime on Facebook and InstagramCanadian True Crime donates monthly to those facing injustice. This month we’ve donated to the Sexual Assault Centre of Kingston, who are supporting 28 victim-complainants involved in the ongoing sexual violence and child exploitation trial of Michael Haaima who faces nearly 100 charges. Donate here and note “Haaima” in the message box.Full list of resources, information sources, and more: www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canadian True Crime is a completely independent production, funded mainly through advertising. You can listen to Canadian True Crime ad-free and early on Amazon music included with Prime, Apple Podcasts, Patreon, and Supercast. The podcast often has disturbing content and coarse language. It's not for everyone. Hi there, I hope you'll well. The Wells Gray Park murders are considered among the most heinous crimes in Canadian history. A judge described it as the senseless, ruthless, cold-blank.

slaughter of six defenseless victims, a slaughter that devastated three generations of a single family, grandparents, parents and two young daughters wiped out. The disappearance of the Johnson-Bentley family triggered one of the most expensive and publicized criminal investigations in Canada, a nationwide search that shocked the country and dominated headlines. More than five years ago, we released an episode about this crime, and today, at the request of the family, we're releasing it again, remastered and updated. They need your help. And in a second, I'll explain why it's urgent. Hi, my name is Shelley Bowden. I'm the niece of Bob and Jackie, and Janet and Karen were my two cousins. And Georgia, neither Bentley, my auntie Jackie's mom and dad. We were

camping in Wells Great Park in 1982, and there was a monster in the bushes. That monster in the bushes was eventually captured and convicted. But during the trial, no motive was ever presented. It was only after sentencing that he finally admitted his true motivations. Even though decades have passed, this case is not over. The perpetrator is expected to apply for parole again next year, and the family is again preparing to face a grueling process that forces them to relive their loss and trauma. But more than that, they fear for public safety if he's released, and I think they have a very good point. A key feature of the Canadian justice system is the emphasis on rehabilitation over punishment.

But whether you agree with that or not, there's an under-duneration. scientific truth. Not everyone can be rehabilitated. At each of his previous hearings, the parole board found that significant risk concerns remain and that releasing him would seriously compromise public safety. The evidence shows the risk of granting him parole far outweighs any argument for his potential rehabilitation. And that is the basis of the Johnson-Bentley family's argument. At the last parole hearing in 2021, they relied on public awareness and a petition to demonstrate those safety concerns. Many of you signed that petition after hearing our original episode and the family is now asking for your help again. Here's family member

Shelly Bowden again. He has no remorse for anything that he's done. He said he was sorry 32 years later And so hence we've been doing change.org to get people to sign petitions to keep this mass murder with a sadistic, you know, fantasies that he has. He doesn't do this to any by their family because we are saying that he's going to reoffend and ruin somebody else's life like he's done now. We are so grateful that the people that have signed their petition and have posted it. So our numbers are slowly climbing, but we still need to do more of an impact for the government. It's just like it happened yesterday. There's a little more from my conversation with Shelly at the end. If you live in Canada and would like to support the Johnson-Bentley family,

please sign the petition, either now or after listening. The deadline for the family to submit materials to the parole board is the end of January. You'll find a link to sign in the show notes or visit canadian truecrime.com. Thank you so much, and I'll be sure to update you later. And with that, it's on with the show. An additional content warning. This case involves crimes committed against a child, although no graphic details are given.

Please take care when listening. It was the summer of 1982, and three generations of one family were getting ready to leave, on a camping trip together in British Columbia. George and Edith Bentley were the grandparents. 66-year-old George was known to be friendly and always helpful, but also quiet and reserved. He wasn't much into people or crowds

and preferred to be camping and fishing with his wife. 59-year-old Edith was the more outgoing and social one, jolly with a great sense of humour. But she also loved spending time in the quiet of nature with her husband. They got on really well together. Three years earlier, George's heart condition had forced him to take an early retirement, so the couple decided a life change was in order.

After much planning, they purchased a Ford pickup truck, red up top and silver on the bottom, with a 10.5 foot camper mounted in the bed of the truck. George worked hard on custom modifications to their new truck and camper, making sure the setup would be perfect. They rented out their house and set out to find wilderness-type camping spots in the wilds of British Columbia, off the beaten path, away from the crowds where they could relax and unspoiled nature. In between camping trips, their three adult children would take turns having them

stay for a while, and they could spend some quality time with their grandkids before taking to the road on their next adventure. George and Edith Bentley grew to love their traveling and camping lifestyle so much that they decided to put their house up for sale, planning to upgrade the truck and camper to a full-size motorhome after that. In 1982, the couple were thrilled when their daughter Jackie expressed interest in bringing her own family along for a summer trip. 41-year-old Jackie Johnson was an avid photographer. She was never far from her camera and loved nothing more than to take photos, particularly of her family. Her husband, Bob, was 44, known as a funny guy who loved practical jokes. He was also a proud family man, an avid,

motorbike enthusiast and a hard worker. He was well respected at the Gorman Brothers Lumber Sawmill where he had worked for 25 years. Jackie and Bob lived in Colonna, British Columbia, with their two daughters, 13-year-old Janet and 11-year-old Karen. They were cheerful girls who got on well together and liked to keep busy. When they weren't at school, they could often be found practicing piano or working on a new badge for girl guides. On August 2nd, 1982, George and Edith set off to show the Johnsons how exhilarating wilderness camping can be. Their custom setup featured bright colours. The truck was of course red up the top and the camper mounted on the bed of the truck had a pretty mural of an orange sunset on one of the

passenger windows. And on top of the camper, George had carefully secured a 10-foot aluminum boat. Everything was set for a wonderful trip. They had planned to meet the Johnson family near Wells Gray Provincial Park, a massive wilderness park located in East Central British Columbia, about five hours northeast of Vancouver. Wells Gray covers over 5,000 square kilometers, almost double the size of the entire Greater Vancouver area. Alpine wilderness born from volcanoes and carved by glaciers. It boasts gorgeous mountains, rivers, creeks and beautiful iconic waterfalls, proper wilderness camping, not for amateurs.

George and Edith Bentley couldn't have been more at home there, and once they'd greeted their daughter Jackie and her family, they led the way inside the park to show them all it had to offer. The family set up a campsite at a secluded location known as the old Bear Creek prison site. A mobile prison had previously been there but had been shut down and cleared out years before. What remained was a nice clearing beside a body of water called Fage Creek, the perfect spot to camp for two weeks. Now, this was 1982 and there were no cell phones,

no way to connect anyone if you were out of civilization. Edith and George had a habit of finding a public phone so they could routinely check in with family back home. Four days after they settled, at Bear Creek, Edith drove to the town of Clearwater, just south of Wells Gray Park to phone home. She reported back to her other daughter, Sharon, that they were all okay and having a great time on the trip so far. That was August the 6th. The camping trip was supposed to be for two weeks. But they didn't return on time. The first to notice was Bob Johnson's co-workers. After 25

years of high reliability, Bob simply not showing up for work was most unlike him. They weren't able to get in contact with his wife Jackie either. So after a few days, Bob's employer decided to file a missing person's report with the Camloops RCMP, who started looking into it immediately. It was soon discovered that no one had heard from either of the Bentley or Johnson families for over two weeks, and the girls hadn't been to school either. No one seemed to know exactly where the families were camping in the park, and there were no park records available at the time due to an employee strike. An official search was initiated in Wells Gray Provincial Park.

With the help of park rangers, private citizens who lived in the airport, area and local pilots who conducted aerial searches. In the local town of Clearwater, just to the south of the park, the RCMP doorked as many of the several thousand local residents as they could, asking everyone where they were the first three weeks of August. They were asked if they saw the Bentley's or the Johnsons in their travels. Did they see their distinctive truck and camper? Unfortunately, nothing pandan.

out as a serious lead. The search party drove down hundreds of hidden logging road trails, but Wells Gray is a vast wilderness and the searches went for a week or two with no sign of the families found. RCP investigators had nothing to work with, so they knew they needed to get the media involved. Two families, three generations, six people, seemingly vanished into thin air. Someone must have seen something. As lead detective, Mike Eastam would write in his book The Seventh Shadow, they knew that if they got the right publicity and the public were on alert, they had a good chance of gathering some leads and potentially finding some answers

about where this family might be. Mike Eastam and another investigator appeared on a public affairs program on primetime TV to make a public appeal for more information. The press pumped out pictures of the Johnson and Bentley family, as well as the distinctive truck and camper and the Johnson sedan, a 1979 Chrysler Plymouth. The public were asked to be on the lookout for any leads on where they might be. Straight away, hundreds of tips started coming in.

One of them was from a mushroom picker who had been working in the area. He said he'd been picking mushrooms during the last week of August, deep in the heart of the provincial park, and saw what he thought was just another derelict car. Once he returned to civilization, he saw the news reports and recognized the car he saw as being very similar to the Johnson's Chrysler Plymouth. He contacted the RCMP straightaway and told them the location of the car.

It was in a very remote area of, of the park, an area usually traveled by horseback or four-by-fours, not a standard family sedan, and it was found in a secluded mountain logging road wedged between trees. The spot proved to be difficult for the RCMP to find and access, and from the road it was almost impossible to see the car. The only visible clue to the car's presence were tyre tracks that angled off into the bushes. The officers followed the tracks stepping through long, thick brush as they went. When they reached the car, it was obvious that it had been driven in until it got stuck on a log and boulder

and couldn't be driven any further. The car was also a burnt wreck, so much so that it was clear to investigators that some kind of accelerant must have been used. It may have taken a while to identify the car, But fortunately, the license plate was still intact and able to be read. This was the Johnson's Chrysler. But where was the family? The RCMP had just found the burnt-out Chrysler-P belonging to the Johnsons, well hidden in the bush. On the roof of the car was the remnant.

of a rooftop carrier. Everything had melted in the fire, and all that was left on the roof of the car were a line of bottles of old stock beer, the same kind of beer that Bob Johnson drank, as well as some tins of canned food. The driver's side door was left open, and officers peered inside.

There was no mistaking what they saw on the back seat, a pile of ash that contained burnt bones, including a skull that had a clear bullet wound in it. Was it the remains of one person or more? There was no way of telling, but either way, this was not good news. Detectives then went around to the back of the car. A set of rusty keys dangled from the trunk lock. They opened the trunk and were again confronted with a sight they would never forget.

Two little skeletons. Since there was a clear bullet wound, wound, investigators searched the area for shell casings, signs that a gun had been fired in the area. They found nothing. This location likely wasn't the crime scene. Whoever was in the car had been shot at a different location their bodies put into the Chrysler Plymouth, driven to this hidden location and set a light. The person responsible probably thought that the car would never be found. The burnt-out Chrysler was loaded into a U-Haul and sent off to the crime lab in Vancouver, where the forensics team went to work to confirm the identities of the

people in the car. It would take more than two months for an announcement to be made, but at the end of November 1982, the coroner Doug Jack announced that there were six bodies in the car. Through dental records, a positive identification was made for 13-year-old Janet Johnson, and in the back seat of the car were the remains of the four adults. Their mother, 41-year-old Jackie Johnson, was also identified through dental records. Jackie's father, 66-year-old George Bentley, was identified through x-rays he'd had three years earlier. Both Jackie's mother, 59-year-old Edith, and husband, 44-year-old Bob, wore dentures which melted in the fire. Their identities were determined through the process of elimination.

And as for that bullet hole, that was from a 22-caliber rifle. There was other evidence of bullet fragments, but the coroner was unable to determine a cause of death because the bodies had essentially been cremated. He told the press, quote, In 32 years, I've never seen anything so totally destroyed. The remaining members of the Bentley and Johnson family were devastated. Six of their loved ones, including two young children, wiped out, reduced to ashes. Who could do something like this and what motive could they possibly have?

The RCMP were determined. to find out. The search intensified and now they were looking for three things. One, the person or persons responsible for this horrific crime. Two, the location of the crime scene. The place where the murders happened before the bodies were driven to the place they were found. And three, the truck and camper owned by George and Edith Bentley. The RCMP set out again to search Wells Gray provincial park. But again, they had no luck. And while they'd received a lot of leads so far, none of them had materialized into anything that moved the needle on the case. So they continued to work with the media to publicise the case, distributing pictures of the truck and camper with a

request to contact them if there were any sightings. Before long, they received a call that looked promising. A woman said she believed she'd seen the same truck and camper at a service station on or around August 24, about a week after the Bentley and Johnson family should have returned home. But she said she was not in British Columbia at the time. When she saw the truck and camper, she was on vacation in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, over a thousand kilometers east of Wells Gray provincial park, and she saw two men exit the truck, head into the restaurant and sit down for a meal. She described the two men as shabbily dressed and quite rugged looking. Both were in their late 20s with unkempt shoulder-length hair. The police looked through their notes.

Staff Sergeant Mike Eastam remembered that the RCMP had previously received a similar tip. He thumbed through the notes until he'd found it. A waitress from the nearby town of Clearwater had told them she believed she'd spotted the truck and camper and had served the two men occupying it, specifically remembering them because they tried to hit on her. She described them as two scruffy French-speaking guys, and their physical descriptions matched the description given by the woman who had spotted them in Saskatchewan. Straightaway, a sketch artist was brought in, and the composite drawing. drawings were distributed to the media, showing two very mean-looking men with furrowed brows. Soon, a new tip came in that two French-speaking men who matched the same description had been hired temporarily in the area for slash burning, and were working there at the same

time that the families were camping. These two French guys looked promising, and more and more tips started to come in. By the end of October, 1982, they'd received hundreds and hundreds of them, with a new one coming in every three minutes. Around 40 investigators worked the case full-time, doing 16-hour days without a day off for several months. One person said they saw the truck and camper with the two men inside heading east on the Trans-Canada Highway. Locating these two men was going to take some time. And by that point, they really could be anywhere. But then, the RCMP received a tip a bit closer to home.

A ranger from Wells Gray Provincial Park had just come into town after some time in a cabin with no TV access, and when he saw the news about the truck and camper, it sparked a memory. He contacted the RCMP and told them that he'd remembered seeing a similar truck and camper in the park a few months back, at a place referred to as the old Bear Creek prison site. In the book The Seventh Shadow, lead detective Mike Eastam described arriving at the site. Quote, the entrance was so overgrown that unless you slow your vehicle right down, you'd miss it. He described seeing a fire pit surrounded by river rocks, with large pieces of cut logs sitting upright

and long boards resting on them. Obviously this was seating for six people around the campfire. Sergeant Eastham had seen pictures of George and Edith Bentley's previous camping trip setups and recognised something familiar at the site when he saw it, a square can with a wire through it, resting on two blocks of wood at the campsite. It was a setup they used to stabilise their camper, and as the truck and camper were not there, it stood out. The officers searched the area carefully and turned up some more items.

There was evidence that the family had been roasting marshmallows, and they'd found some bottles of beer keeping cool in the creek, that same brand of bottle that remained in the melted carrier on top of the Johnson's burnt-out car. So the RCMP had now found the family's campsite, but they wanted to know if it was also the crime scene. A ground search uncovered six shell casings from a 22-caliber rifle. This matched the bullet wound found in one of the skulls.

And while this was good news for the investigation, there was no evidence of whoever was responsible for the attack. Several months had passed since the Johnson and Bentley families went missing and there had been rainfall during that time. And there were notable things missing from the campsite. The truck and camper, of course, was still missing, as was the aluminum boat that was secured to the top, along with a bunch of camping gear and tools.

And the RCMP was still on the lookout for those two French-speaking guys, who by now could have made it to the other side of the country. Investigators decided to keep the location of the camp site a secret. The fact that it was at the old Bear Creek prison site would be holdback evidence that only the killer would know. They hoped it wouldn't be long before more information came to light. As the months passed and 1982 turned into 1983, the case seemed like it was growing cold. It was now one of the most highly publicized missing persons cases in Canada, with dozens of investigators still working full-time.

By this point, investigators had tried just about anything they could to generate leads, but hadn't made much headway. They had used helicopters and long aerial searches of the park and tracked down all the people on file that had stayed in the park that summer. They'd connected with Fish and Wildlife, Department of Highways, BC telephones and hydro, Interpol, customs, U.S. Slod. enforcement. They tried hypnosis, psychics and infrared. They looked at almost all pawn shops and secondhand goods stores in BC and Alberta for missing items that belong to the families, as well as

searching ditches along the Trans-Canada Highway. Nothing of interest turned up. Everyone was on the lookout for that truck and camper and the two scruffy-looking men who the RCMP believed were still heading out east. But by April of 1983, the tips again started to slow down. The RCMP couldn't continue to have this number of operatives working this investigation with no new leads while they were needed on others. A reluctant decision was made to cut the number of investigators working the case to just five. At this point, the investigators were in a strange position. Intuition was telling them that the answers they needed were local to Wells Gray Provincial Park. But if they went by the tips they'd received, the answers they needed were out east,

the two men driving what was thought to be the Bentley's truck and camper. It was time for the team to do something that made a big splash. The RCMP arranged for a reenactment to be filmed as a special program to be aired on primetime TV. actors were chosen that resembled each of the six family members and it showed them getting ready for their camping trip in Kelowna and camping together in the park. The reenactment didn't depict the murders or the burning of the Johnson's car out of respect for their loved ones,

nor did it reveal the location of the campsite as being the old Bear Creek prison site because this was still holdback evidence. When the program, was ready, it aired on Global in April of 1983. Tips surged again, but none of them resulted in any solid leads. The next month, it was time for a new plan. An exact replica of the Bentley's truck and camper was created, complete with its distinctive bright colors and custom modifications. There was even an aluminum boat secured on top. In May of 1983, the

replica truck and camper went on a very public press trip. It was driven from British Columbia on the west, across to Quebec, in the hope that someone would see it and remember something that might trigger a new lead. The plan was that as the camper was driven through selected cities, there would be local press conferences held to ramp up publicity for it so that the local public were aware of what was happening. The composite sketches of the Frenchman were shown, news releases were distributed, and thousands of reward posters offering a $35,000 reward for information were distributed. And the tips again started flowing in. This was 1983 and the RCMP were receiving a massive data that they needed to organize and store, so it was a

newsworthy development that they were using computers. They had to hire extra personnel just to operate the machines. In total, almost 1,300 people called police with new sightings of both the truck and camper and the two scruffy Frenchmen. But again, none of them resulted in a solid lead. It was incredibly frustrating for everyone, from the investigators tirelessly working the case to the local residents of the area who were worried about a killer still on the loose to of course the loved ones of the Johnson and Bentley family, who needed to know why this happened. The tactics the RCMP had used, the re-enactment, the replica truck and camper, and using the media, were criticised for being too far out of the box, not to mention extremely expensive.

The chase for the two Frenchmen was described as a wild goose chase across Canada. One retired former RCMP detective even came out of. out of the woodwork to criticize the work of his former organization to the Vancouver Sun, telling the paper he believed what he referred to as a couple of 16 and 17-year-old psychotics had committed the crime. Robbery was the motive, and he believed the truck and camper had never left the park. The investigators working the case were crushed at all this feedback and criticism, but they had to keep going. With nothing left to go on, they had to go on, they had to had devised innovative, creative ideas to get the media and the public engaged with the case

in a way Canadians had never seen before. It was the most publicised investigation to date, but it was so hard not to be discouraged when they still had no answers. Another month went by and then a new tip came in that got instant attention. It was from an auto body mechanic in Windsor, Ontario. He had seen one of the national bulletins about the case and called to say that around three or four months earlier, two French-speaking men driving what looked like the Bentley's red Ford pickup truck approached him. The men told him they had recently removed a camper that was mounted on top and they wanted the body of the truck painted a different color. The mechanic looked over the truck and noticed there were modifications to the front and rear bump.

and also to the bed of the truck. The details of George Bentley's modifications were never made public, and the investigators noted the details this mechanic was giving were eerily similar. The mechanic said the two men asked if they could have a midnight paint job, a job usually done outside business hours and paid in cash with no record of the transaction. It's illegal. They had another question. They wanted to know if he had any recommendations for how to get rid of two guns.

The mechanic said to the RCMP that he was a former criminal trying to stay on the straight and narrow and didn't want to get involved with whatever these two men were doing. But he did give them the name of someone over the river in Detroit, Michigan that could help them. He gave that same name to the RCMP. This was a massive tip. But the RCMP can't just cross the border and interview someone in the US as they have no jurisdiction there. Official process must be followed, so they had to start by reaching out to the FBI to assist them. It took weeks of planning and organisation, but finally all their ducks were in a row

and a trip to Detroit to conduct an interview was arranged. Just as they were getting ready to leave, another tip came in that would change everything. Two forestry workers were in the southeast region of Wells Gray Provincial Park working on Trophy Mountain. To give you some perspective, it's about 23 aerial miles from the big, Creek campsite. And about 4,700 feet up Trophy Mountain, down an old abandoned logging road, two forestry workers found what they believed to be George and Edith Bentley's Ford Truck and Camper. They called the RCMP. Just like the Johnson's Chrysler, the Bentley's truck and camper

had been set alight with an accelerant and was now a completely burnt out wreckage. And it was clear that the vehicle had been driven deep into the bush with the intention of letting it roll into a deep gorge, where it likely wouldn't have been discovered for a very long time. Luckily, there were some large logs in its path, and it stopped short. But the attempt to hide it was still successful. It wasn't known how long it had been there, but by the time it was found a year after the murders, it was almost impossible to see. The burned-out truck and camper contained no evidence except this, a 22-caliber bullet hole in the passenger side.

The RCMP announced that the Bentley's truck and camper had been found at Trophy Mountain, but did not release the bullet hole information to the public. This detail was kept as holdback evidence along with Bear Creek, the location of the campsite. details that only the killer would know. But this discovery meant something important for the investigation. As the Vancouver Sun reported, it meant that the person or persons responsible for

murdering four adults and two children was clearly, quote, intimate with the relatively pristine wilderness and the back roads connecting each location involved in the crime. The burnt-out Chrysler, the campsite, turned crime scene, and now the burnt-out truck and camper, all accessed through abandoned logging roads and areas of Wells Gray Park that only a local would know. This meant the RCMP had to let go of the notion of the scruffy Frenchmen, whoever and wherever they were, go back to the drawing board and focus on the local area again.

Clearwater, that small town to the south of Wells Gray Provincial. Park. More investigators were added to the case, and more than 20 of them went door to door and re-interviewed everyone for a second time. Now that more than a year had passed since the murders, maybe someone had heard or learned something of interest in that time. After all, with a local killer still on the loose, everyone had been paying attention. Early into their second round of interviews, an investigator was eating lunch at a local diner when a waitress slipped him a mysterious piece of paper.

It read two words, Dave Shearing. Police quickly looked into this David Shearing. He was 24, and at the time of the murders, he lived in his mother's farmhouse only a few kilometres away from the Bear Creek campsite. His father had died of cancer, and his mother was living in a retirement home. His brother was reportedly a sheriff. From what they could see, he came from a nice, normal family who lived on an isolated farm in the area

and had enjoyed a simple upbringing with hardworking parents and two siblings. But it was clear that David Shearing had somehow diverged from his family. He'd been in trouble with the RCMP many times before for drugs, drunk driving and getting into fights. There were also whispers that David was responsible for a hit and run in the park a couple of years earlier and had gotten away with it. Investigators had also heard rumours that he liked underage girls around the age of 13 or 14.

Lead investigator Mike Easter, recalled interviewing David the first round of interviews with Clearwater residents. Thumbing through his old notes, he saw that David was cooperative. He told them he didn't see anything and couldn't remember anything from that time. He added that he didn't know who could do such a thing and, quote, the guilty people deserve whatever they get. He promised to call if he remembered anything. Investigators learnt that at the time,

David worked in Clearwater. This meant that every day he likely drove past the old Bear Creek Prison Campsite on his way to work. He knew exactly where it was. But now, David Shearing was no longer in town, and as investigators worked to find out more about him and locate him, others continued to go door to door in Clearwater, conducting interviews. They had an interesting experience with a local,

resident who was at first reluctant to speak. After prompting from his wife, he told investigators that he had heard Dave Shearing talking about re-registering a truck that might have been stolen, a truck with a bullet hole in the door. As you'll remember, the information about the bullet hole in the door had never been released to the public. This was a big break for police. Everything they were digging up was pointing at David Shearing.

Police interviewed a man called Ross, one of David's closest friends, who confessed that he was in the car when David ran over and killed a man on Wells Gray Park Road. This was fact-checked. The young man had left a party and was walking on the road when a car, apparently driven by David Shearing, hit him. David and Ross had both been drinking and Ross told the RCMP that David didn't even bother to stop the car he just kept driving

and of course the young man tragically died With this information the RCMP had something to bring David Shearing in for and at least get him out of the community while they continue to gather evidence about his possible involvement and what was now widely referred to as the Johnson-Bentley murders. They suspected a person might act a little differently after they'd ambushed and murdered four adults and two children, so asked residents if anyone they knew seemed to change suddenly.

There were no reports of this. Even people who knew David Shearing said there was no noticeable change in his demeanor or behaviour around the case. the time that the families went missing. He was observed getting drunk and socialising with his friends as if nothing had happened. The RCMP tracked him down in a town called Tumblr Ridge, about 800 kilometres north of Clearwater. They discovered that only two months beforehand, David Shearing had been arrested for being in possession of around $40,000 worth of stolen tools. He had been released and was under an agreement to stay in the local area, working, until he returned to court.

The RCMP found him two days before his court date and asked him if he would come to the station to help them with an investigation. He was cooperative. At the station, he was introduced to investigators Ken Libel and Mike Eastam, who wrote about the interview in great detail for his book, 7th shadow, starting with their attempts to make David relax by asking the usual casual questions about his family, his background and where he worked. David said he was currently working for a local craftsman, but he'd also done cabinet making, general labour, worked at a fertilizer company and had also done construction work. David Shearing was a big guy, around 6'3 inches and 250 pounds.

People called him moose and tank. Detective Eastam expected him to have a big booming voice but was surprised that he was quietly spoken. Easton described his drooping brown moustache that gave him a tough Western look coupled with eyes that were described as dark and lifeless. It was clear to Eastam that David Shearing had, quote, had his nose rearranged a few times,

it was spread all over his face, must have been in one of those fights. Eastam asked if David had any issues with the police. The man admitted he didn't have a lot of money and was trying to supplement his income by stealing. He described himself as being really stupid and also blamed the crowd he hung out with. Eastham noticed that David was getting uncomfortable, so he switched back to casual questions,

asking him about friends and hobbies he had and what he liked to do in his spare time. David said he got along with pretty much everybody in Clearwater, and as for hobbies, he liked to play the guitar, work on trucks and go fishing. He confirmed he liked to drink alcohol and said he hadn't done many drugs since high school. Eastham then asked David if he liked to hunt, and David quickly replied no, too quickly. in Eastam's opinion. And he also said no to owning guns. This was especially interesting, because he'd told the officer on the ride to the station that he had a 22-caliber rifle that had been at his mum's house. The investigators asked him if he had any idea why they'd

brought him to the station. David replied that he didn't know. He was an honest guy who didn't have anything to hide. Detective Eastam then read him his rights the first time. David suddenly asked them, Are you guys investigating the Johnson Bentley murders? It was interesting that he would be the one to bring it up. Easton asked him if he'd been questioned about the crime before, and David confirmed that he had been interviewed the first time by the RCMP.

In any event, Eastam told him, that wasn't why he was there today. They'd brought him in because of the hit and run and the rumours they'd heard from multiple people about his involvement. David Shearing immediately confessed. I was driving. I guess you know that. Easton asked him to recount what happened that night. The story was the same as what his friend Ross had told the RCMP.

He was driving after a night of partying and they were going too fast up the top of a lot of it. hill. When suddenly his headlights illuminated a shape and before he had time to react, they collided and the whole car bounced. David said he was scared shitless because that meant the shape was a person and they were likely now dead and he'd been drinking. When asked how he felt at the time, David said he was really confused and upset that he'd killed someone. He was upset about it for a while afterwards too and still thought about it often. At this point, Detective Eastam left to grab some coffee and when he came back, David appeared to be crying.

Later, he rested his head in his left hand with his elbow on the table in a kind of slouched over position. With a pen and paper, David wrote down his statement of the events of the hit and run and they reviewed it together before he signed off. When they were done, the detective asked David, what do you think about the Johnson and Bentley murders? David replied that it was pretty bad for the community. Eastham asked if he knew the area where the truck and camper were found. David said yes, Trovey Mountain.

Eastham started to ask if David knew where the families had been killed, and David suddenly interrupted and said, Bear Creek. The Bear Creek location was never made public and instantly a look on David's face made it clear he'd realized what he'd done. He said, I think I need to speak to a lawyer now. As his lawyer was contacted and told to come to the station, Eastham knew they had the man they'd been looking for and needed for him to confess. And they needed to find out why David had decided an entire family of six needed to die that day, but they knew once his lawyer arrived, he'd be advised not to talk, so they had a very limited amount of time and they had to be

strategic. Detective Eastam used the tactic of assuring the perpetrator that they're a good person. They just made a massive mistake. He told the 24-year-old, quote, David, I don't know what triggered you to do it. I know it happened. I just don't know why. You do need a lawyer. There's no question about it. You need one. I know what happened and so do you. The difference is, you know all the details and I don't. As David started crying again, Easton had detected that he was worried about what his mother might think and said, Don't make me involve your mother. I don't want to go and search her place or your brother's place. I know what happened and I know it was something that got right out of hand.

As David cried even louder, Eastam tried to reassure him as best he could. This was his chance to make things easy. He'd already confessed about the hit and run, so he probably wants to confess to this too, but they did understand that he was scared and felt under pressure. David replied, I could shoot myself. Detective Eastam's experience and intuition told him

they were inching closer to a confession and the lawyer still. hadn't arrived. After more prompting questions about the murders of the Johnson and Bentley families, Eastham asked David point-blank if he remembered it well. He replied, yes. And with that, the person responsible for the murders of George, Edith, Jackie, Bob, and Janet and Karen, a horrific crime that had led the RCMP on an expensive and highly publicised wild goose chase around the country, had just taken the first step and admitted to it. But now to get their

details, to find out why. Still crying, David told them the gun was still at his mother's farm and drew a map of its location. He also drew maps of the Wells Gray Provincial Park to mark each of the points of his confession, and from there it all came out. David confirmed the RCMP's theory that he had seen the families camping at the old Bear Creek Prison when he'd been driving home from work. He said he decided to take a walk that night and found himself heading back to that spot. He went to a vantage point where he could look in on the campers and watched with idle curiosity as the four adults and two young girls bustled around a fire-lit campsite. He told the investigators that at one point he thought he'd been spotted, so he went back across the field

and hid in some shrubs. After he realized he was wrong and the campers were still not aware of his presence lurking in the bushes, David headed home. He said the next night he went back following the same path. Being a local bushman and expert on the terrain, he knew exactly how to approach the campsite. He went through the bushes to enter the campsite area from the other side, where the back of the truck and camper was. He crept up beside the truck and saw that the four adults were sitting around the campfire. He slowly crept up behind them and raised his gun, the 22-caliber rifle. Four bangs. Four people shot in the head. He had crept up so close that he only spent what he needed, one bullet per person.

The lives of George and Edith Bentley and their daughter Jackie and her husband Bob were extinguished by David Shearing before they had a chance to realize what was happening. David then went to the tent where he said Janet and Karen were sleeping. He shot them both too. He dragged the bodies to the Johnson's Chrysler Plymouth and piled them inside. Then he went back to the campsite, took down the tents and quickly cleaned up, stealing any tools and gear that caught his interest. He drove the car with the bodies of the two families he'd just killed to another area and parked it, and the next day he drove

the truck and camper, leaving the two vehicles together, before returning again to rifle through their belongings and take what he wanted. He then waited until a dark night and drove the Chrysler up to Battle Mountain, right in the heart of the provincial park, taking it into the bush as far as he could, moving logs and a couple of rocks along the way. Eventually the car got stuck and he decided to leave it where it lay. He poured gas inside the car and then lit the car on fire. David said he watched the car burn for a while, flames leaping toward the sky, and then he had it home. And a few more days later, David drove the truck and camper up Trophy Mountain Road,

again driving it into the bushes and tending to roll it into the gorge, but it too got stuck. He used a full jerry can of fuel to set it on fire and again stood and watched as it burned before returning home. David Shearing had confessed to the murder of the Johnson and Bentley families, but the RCMP was still unclear on the motive. All David would say was that he wanted their stuff. To kill six people, just for some tools and gear, did not make sense.

Investigators had been interviewing David for six hours and didn't believe he was telling the whole truth, but they at least had enough to charge. him, enough for a conviction. They asked him if he had anything more to say. He said he didn't, and then added, Just that I feel really bad about it. David Shearing was charged with six counts of second-degree murder.

The Crown considered charging him with first-degree murder, but didn't think they had enough evidence to prove planning and intent. After David Shearing had been charged, Pictures of him appeared in the local media, and he was described by the Vancouver Sun as about 6'3, 190 pounds with curly brown hair and a thin brown moustache. The public interest was massive, with everyone wanting to know exactly who this monster was that could commit such a horrific crime and then evade capture for over a year. By all accounts, there was nothing out of the ordinary uncovered about date.

David Shearing's childhood. It all seemed very, very normal. He grew up on an isolated farm where he enjoyed exploring 160 acres of spectacular wilderness scenery. His parents were hardworking and he had two siblings. Nothing notable happened in his childhood.

His school counsellor observed him to be quiet, shy and self-conscious, a C-plus average student. After high school, He reportedly struggled to find a full-time job, so he found temporary work with a local craftsman. He eventually decided to attend the local community college and studied mechanics for six months.

He did well and received an award for coming second in the class. Over the next five years, he would move from job to job. Multiple former employers said David was a good and conscientious worker. He would do any task without a job. complaining, but for some reason he never stayed at any one job for very long. David apparently loved to read, mostly mechanic magazines, handyman books and science fiction. He liked to fish and hike. His brother would describe him as kind, sympathetic and sensitive, quote,

Although at times he drank to excess, his drinking was not an obvious problem to the family. At some point, their father was diagnosed with cancer, which became terminal and he passed away in March of 1982. This was just five months before David murdered the Johnson and Bentley families. A colleague observed him to be extremely upset after this because he admired his father greatly and felt like he'd lost a friend as well as a father. But apparently by that summer, he was back to himself. That was the same summer that the Johnson and Bentley families disappeared. David Shearing appeared nonchalant during a short court appearance,

and after the hearing was over, he tried to shield his face, but media outlets managed to show a side profile shot of a man with a hardened face that looked much older than his 24 years. The day after his confession, the RCMPI, took him back to each of the three locations so he could show them what he did at each. Bear Creek where he murdered all six members of the family. Battle Mountain, where he burned their bodies inside the Johnson's Chrysler. And Trophy Mountain, where he burned their truck and camper. David then showed investigators where he hid the small aluminum boat and the other belongings.

Then he took them to his house and took the 22-caliber rifle off the gun rack in the living room wall and handed it over. It was the same-sized bullet wound that forensic investigators had found in the cremated remains, and it matched the six shell casings found at Bear Creek. David also returned a Walkman that belonged to Janet and Karen, the Johnson's family camera and a bunch of the family's clothes as well. as some tools, and then he was taken back to jail. After 14 months, the investigation was finally over. In total, police had processed nearly 13,000 tips and leads and had 30 filing cabinets worth of paperwork. But the RCMP still wanted what they suspected was the real

motive for the crime. Detective Mike Eastam asked David Shearing if he would ever tell them what his true motive was, and he said he would tell them when he was ready. David was looked over by a local physician who assessed his potential need for a referral for treatment for mental illness. He was deemed to be not mentally ill and fit for trial. In the lead up to the hearing where he would be required to plead guilt, guilty or not guilty, Detective Mike Eastam continued to visit him in jail. He said he thought it was time that David told the truth about why he murdered the families. David still refused to speak.

Easton promised he would be back to check again. On April 16, 1984, 25-year-old David Shearing cried as he pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree murder. The Edmonton Journal described him as a hulking, broad-shouldered man with a hook nose. At the sentencing hearing, the Crown asked the judge to give the 25-year-old the maximum sentence. Quote, there is never an excuse for murder, but there's usually a reason. But here, there is not even that. There was no alcohol and no drugs involved. There is not the slightest suggestion that these six people annoyed the accused or even insulted him.

There is nothing. It was a senseless killing of six innocent and totally defenseless strangers. The defense argued for leniency and gave a few reasons. They claimed the death of David's father of cancer a few months before he committed the murders had left him distraught and drinking heavily. His lawyer reminded the judge of his client's cooperation in the investigation and emphasized that he appeared remorseful. And David had apparently contemplated suicide often, but decided he couldn't go through with it. The defense said that the reason why he was pleading guilty is because he didn't want the family and friends of the Johnson and Bentley families or his own friends and family to go through a trial. Letters from his friends, former employer and brother were presented as positive

testament to his character, describing him as a polite, shy and charming young man who was always trying to help other people and was more at home on a mountain side than in a large crowd. All maintained they were shocked when it was announced that David Shearing was the murderer. It seemed so out of character for what they knew of him. His mother had said that she hoped it was a bad dream. Quote, he's always been such a good boy. He's always worked hard and he always saw that I had everything. David's brother had been angrily quoted in the media saying he had a hard time believing everything

and was going to refrain from saying anything because it, quote, wouldn't be fair to Dave. He asked, What happened to this young fellow who was kind and considerate? In the defense's closing statement, David's lawyer called the murders a frightening and horrendous act, but appealed to the judge to keep in mind that David Shearing is still a human being. Before sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Harry McKay described the crime as

the cold-blooded and senseless execution of six defenseless and innocent victims for no apparent reason. He described the case as being at the upper range of culpability because the Johnson and Bentley families were unknown to David Shearing and they did not in any way provoke him. Quote, he knew they were camped at the site and carefully scouted the situation. He went home and returned either that night or the next with a loaded 22-caliber rifle. Why, we do not really know, but it seems it was to rob and kill. The judge added there were no mitigating factors and the enormity of the crimes demanded the maximum sentence.

As for all of those good character reports presented by David's family, friends and acquaintances, the judge stated that for the purposes of the matter at hand, it was all negated by the enormity of his crimes. Quote, obviously, there is another side of him which even his family and closest friends are unaware, a side that makes him, in my view, a very dangerous man. There is a David Shearing who, without any apparent motive, walked into a campfire light and deliberately shot and killed the four adults, and who then knelt at the tent flap and shot and killed the two young girls. And then there is the David Shearing

who carried out an elaborate time-consuming and ghoulish cover-up. Yes, I agree I must consider the character of the accused as described by his friends and acquaintances and by his family, but I must also keep firmly in mind the other David Shearing, the one who committed these dreadful crimes. David Shearing was sentenced to the maximum penalty of six life sentences to be served concurrently or at the same time, with no chance of parole for 25 years, which would make him eligible in 2008.

Justice Harry McKay said it was the harshest sentence ever given for second-degree murder in Canadian history at the time. This was not the end of the story. We'll be back to continue in a moment, but if you're ready to support the Johnson-Bentley family now, please press pause and sign their petition. There's a link in the show notes. Thank you so much.

The Bentley and Johnson families had been obliterated. What remained of their family banded together to make sure their side were represented in court. Jackie had two siblings, Sharon and Brian. Outside court, Brian told reporters that he could have understood what had happened if David Shearing had been a hardened criminal. But he said the family was satisfied with the sentence as he got the maximum. David's lawyer did not file an appeal. In the time after the sentencing, lead detective Eastam went to meet with David in prison. Everything was behind them. David had been

sentenced and there was nothing more to be done, nothing for him to lose. It was time for him to tell the real motive for the murders. As Easton wrote in his book, The Seventh Shadow, he had an idea of what the answer might be, and he believed the two girls Janet and Karen Johnson were at the centre of it all. He reminded David that he had promised and it was time to collect. It was time to tell the whole story and he was not going to take no for an answer. David started talking. The first night that he saw the family at the Bear Creek site on his way home from work, he focused in on the two girls. particularly 13-year-old Janet with her long blonde hair.

He said when he returned to the campsite the next night, he waited until the girls had gone to bed. Quote, I knew I was going to have to kill those other four to get the girls. Eastam couldn't detect any emotion or remorse in his voice as he spoke. Once they were in the tent, David said he crept up behind the camper with his rifle in hand. One of the women saw him and stood up.

He wasn't sure if it was Edith Bentley or Jackie Johnson because it was a dark night. David yelled, Don't move, I got a gun. Then Bob Johnson stood up. David shot him, the first shot. Bob started gurgling and making a noise. David assumed that he had shot him in the throat.

Then David saw George Bentley running over to the truck and he fired at him. He then saw Jackie run over to the tent to protect her daughters, Janet and Karen, but as she passed the halfway point between the tent and the campfire, David shot her in the head and she fell to the ground. Then he set his sights on Edith, who was trying to get inside the camper. He came up behind her and shot her in the head. David turned to the tent where he knew the girls were and walked over.

He opened the front flap and saw 13-year-old Janet and 11-year-old Karen sitting up on their elbows. They asked him what the noise was and he told them there were some bad people out there and that their parents had told him to stay in the tent with them while they went to get help. The girls asked if it was motorbike people, and David told them that, yes, it was, and advised them to stay put and don't come out of the tent. He told Detective Eastam that he shut the tent flap again and looked around. He noticed that Bob Johnson was still alive, still making the gurgling noises, holding on for dear life.

He shot him again. David said he then piled the bodies of the full. four adults in the back seat of the car and covered them with a blanket. When he was done, he crawled back into the tent with Janet and Karen. The girls must have been absolutely terrified. Just 13 and 11-year-old girls reduced to waiting in a tent for their parents to return for help at the mercy of the strange man who they hoped was on their side. He was not.

As Detective Eastam wrote in his book, I knew what he was going to tell me as soon as he was in that tent with those girls, but there was no experience in the RCMP that could have prepared me for my reaction. After Janet and Karen Johnson survived their first sexual assault, David Shearing ordered them to help him take down their tent, clean up the rest of their sight and put almost everything in the camper. The girls kept asking where their parents were, and each time he said they were still off getting help.

He told the detective that he knew they hadn't seen him shoot their parents, so they didn't have any reason not to believe him. He added that Janet and Karen considered him their hero. Mike Eastam knew that was bullshit. From his book The Seventh Shadow, quote, Edith and Jackie must have been screaming at the top of their lungs when Bob was shot, and the report of a 22 caliber, while not very loud, is a real awakening snap. I firmly believe they had seen it all, their dad being shot down in mid-sentence,

their grandfather being killed near the truck. Mummy, struck down by a bullet as she ran to save them. Grandma stalked and shot in the back of the head at point-blank range. Eastham said he believed the girls had seen it all, and he would not be convinced otherwise. David Shearing kept Janet and Karen as hostages for around a week, maybe longer, he couldn't quite remember, and during this time they were repeatedly sexually assaulted and tortured. He said the first day he ordered them to get into the front seat of their family car, the Chrysler Plymouth. In the back seat were the bodies of their parents and grandparents covered in a blanket.

He drove them all to a different location and told Janet and Karen to set up the tent there and to just stay put because those biker people were still out there. He said, quote, They were so scared they did everything I told him to. With the girls in the tent, he walked back to the campsite to pick up the truck and camper. He wanted to hide it somewhere within the woods on his mother's farm. He then went back to the tent and fed the girls a story that he'd saved their parents and helped them get away. And apparently they would be back.

Once they were set up in the tent, David warned Janet and Karen not to go anywhere because the bears, wolves and bikers could find them. And when he felt they were settled, he went back home. The next day after work, he went back to the tent where the girls were still waiting. He told them that he talked to their parents again and they agreed it was the safest for them to stay put. According to David, quote, They were pretty happy with that story and they trusted me. We talked a lot at night before they went to sleep.

There was three more days and nights of this nightmare situation for Janet and Karen, who were doing everything they were told. in the hope that they would stay safe to be reunited with their parents. Then, David told them that their parents were going to meet them at a fishing cabin. It would be a long walk to the cabin through the brush in the dark. He told Detective Eastam that it was raining and the girls were wet and really cold, and likely completely broken by this point. The cabin was quite a way away, it seemed,

and the first night of the walk they camped underneath a sheet of plastic that David had suspended with some string between some trees. He told Eastam that the girl slept in one sleeping bag and he slept in the other. The next day he said they made it to the cabin, same sleeping arrangements. He carved the initials DS plus JJ on the wall of the cabin, David Shearing and Janet Johnson.

The existence of this carving was later verified, and it was clear now that Janet Johnson was the main target of the attack. The next morning, they woke up in the cabin and saw some people fishing in the river. Then there was a knock on the door. David quickly hid the girls behind the door and ordered them to be quiet. It was a local prison guard from the new Bear Creek Correctional Facility, who told David that those people fishing in the river were local prisoners on a supervised fishing trip and there was no need for concern.

The girls were silent and David was sure that the guard hadn't seen or heard anything. Detective Easton would verify this story by tracking down the prison guard who remembered the encounter and was likely horrified to learn there were two young girls being held hostage behind the door. David Shearing continued with his story. The next day, he said he took Janet and Karen back to his mother's farm.

He then took 11-year-old Karen for a walk into the woods and told her to look away because he needed to urinate. When she turned her head, David shot her. Then he went back to where Janet was, and when she asked about her little sister, David told her that he tied her to her. to a tree. He kept Janet alive for one more night, describing it from his warped mind as though the two of them finally had some time alone together, and they stayed up most of the

night talking. He also commented about Janet's inexperience when it came to sex, as though he wasn't a 24-year-old man sexually assaulting a 13-year-old child. The next day, David took Janet out the back and told her to turn her head so he could urinate. She lived 24 hours longer than her sister, but her fate was the same. David Shearing had ended all six lives, and now it was time to get rid of their bodies. The entire time he'd held Janet and Karen as hostages, the bodies of George, Edith, Jackie and Bob had remained in the back of the Chrysler. covered in a blanket. He put Janet and Karen's bodies in the trunk, then drove the car to Battle Mountain, where he drove it into the trees until it got stuck. He poured the gas on it and

set it a light, watching it burn before he returned home. So, finally, the RCMP and the families had a motive for the crime, and it was about as bad as anyone could imagine. The motive was not made public until early 1986. The remaining members of the Bentley and Johnson families were utterly devastated to learn the truth. Although horrific, Edith and George's son Brian told the Vancouver son that this was really the only motive that made any sense. The family was still trying to come to terms with the murders as they knew them, the fact that David Shearing had shot all six of their family members together. but learning now that he had kept the girls alive for more than a week after that,

coupled with the unspeakable things he did to them before the horrific way they died was almost too much to bear. Quote, It's something that we are learning to live with and when something like this comes up, it's an upheaval. When David Shearing's family found out that pedophilia and sexual assault was the motive for the attack, They were shocked again.

His mother Rose said, He was never after girls. This is shocking. He had several girlfriends, but he didn't date them seriously. He wasn't wild. At some point, David Shearing changed his last name to his mother's maiden name, Ennis. And nine years after his sentencing, he met a woman called Heather through a friend of a friend. They started writing letters and then he said,

Heather started visiting him in prison. They began a relationship, and the next year, 1994, they got married. Heather reportedly already had two children and changed her name to Heather Ennis. She would visit her new husband four times a week, and every two months she would join him for a family or conjugal visit, a three-day weekend at the prison in special facilities. Court documents reveal that four years after they were married, Heather accepted a job as manager at an event venue. But when the venue discovered she was married to David Ennis, formerly David Shearing, they terminated her employment. She took them to court for wrongful dismissal

and argued that David is a changed man and she has a hard time believing that he could kill a fly. Quote, he feels remorse. I've watched him cry. has hurt everyone. The time has come for him to work his way back. She said his heart is in the right place and she was there to back him up. David Ennis did complete some sex offender programs while in prison, starting from 1995, the year after he and his new wife got married. He did another program four years later and then he attended maintenance and relapse prevention programs. In 2000 and 2001, he made multiple requests to complete another program in exchange for a transfer to a minimum security facility, but his requests were denied. The organizers of the program

had assessed his attendance and his progress when it came to awareness and change, and had formed the opinion that he was only attending the programs to move to a lower security facility. In 2008, 49-year-old David applied for parole as soon as he was eligible after serving 25 years. As part of the hearing, David had to talk about the things he'd done. He repeated the story he'd told Mike Eastam about his fixation on the girls, particularly Janet, and told a story about one of the times he sexually assaulted her, ending with the statement, quote, I lost the excitement I had felt.

I wasn't able to continue any further with the sadistic part of it. At this point, David apologized to what was left of the Johnson and Bentley families for the first time. He said, quote, My crime was an enormous, brutal and inexcusable tragedy resulting in tremendous loss to the community that I can never make up for. He said he was deeply ashamed of his crimes and wanted, a chance at a new life. Janet and Karen's cousin,

Shelley Bowden, would tell the Huffington Post that it was the first time he'd said sorry, and they felt that after nearly 30 years, it seemed a bit too late. David's parole officer told the panel that he was at a moderate risk to re-offend and recommended against his release.

According to reporting by the Calgary Herald, five family members wept as They read victim impact statements. One family member, Michelle, said she didn't believe that David was truly sorry. And a woman called Kelly, one of the cousins of the girls, recounted the memorial that had been held for George and Edith Bentley and Jackie, Bob, Janet and Karen Johnson. She said all the remained of her much-loved relatives fit into a single child's coffin. Quote, four adults and two children, all in a baby bar.

The parole board told David Ennis they were suspicious of his motivation for parole and weren't sure his taking the programs was really about understanding himself and getting better or just an attempt to get more freedom and privileges. It was also noted that Ennis had been diagnosed with sexual sadism, with indications of antisocial personality disorder, the clinical diagnosis widely referred to as psychopathy. This indicates he experiences sexual arousal in response to the pain, suffering or humiliation of others and shows a persistent disregard for right and wrong, a lack of empathy and an absence of remorse.

It's important to note that there's no scientific evidence that antisocial personality disorder can be cured. While certain medications and therapies may help some individuals manage behavior and reduce risk of harm, ideally with early intervention, it needs a genuine commitment to change and long-term intensive treatment and maintenance. The parole board found that David Ennis had not fully absorbed the impact of his crimes. He continued to struggle with issues related to pornography and showed that, limited insight into the role substance use played in both his sexual deviance and violent offending. Parole was denied. At the time, once a prisoner reached their first parole eligibility date, they were automatically eligible for a review for full parole every two years after that.

He waived the right to his next review and applied for parole again in 2012. this point 53 years old, he again acknowledged that he killed the four adults to gain access to Janet Johnson, then killed Janet and younger sister Karen to cover up what he'd done and avoid accountability. The parole board found that significant risk concerns remained, despite the decades that had passed. Even David Ennis's own parole officer recommended against release, stating that he could not be safely managed in the community. The parole board noted that Ennis continued to report fantasies of sexual deviance and told him to re-enroll in a high-intensity sexual offender treatment program. It also found that he had not demonstrated a sufficient understanding of his risk factors

or how to manage them to protect public safety. Before parole could even be considered, Ennis was told he would need to progress through the system by first earning a transfer to medium security and then establishing credibility through temporary absences. Parole is not just a request, it's a commitment that requires action, not just words. Parole was again denied. In 2014, Enna supplied again, but withdrew his request a month before the hearing began. The Johnson and Bentley family was relieved. Preparing for a parole hearing is an exhausting and re-traumatizing process for victims' families. The emotional and physical strain of having to do this every two years became so severe that the family advocated for legislative change and they were successful.

The law was amended, extending the interval between parole reviews from two years to five. The next parole hearing took place in 2001. Ennis was seeking full parole. He was now 62 years old. In preparation, the Johnson Bentley family launched a national petition, citing the Parole Board of Canada's own mandate that the protection of society is paramount. Quote, public safety must remain the foremost concern. The risk associated with granting him parole, far outweighs any argument for his potential rehabilitation. Thousands of you signed the petition, and the family told me at the time it resulted in a surge in more signatures. They arrived at the hearing with boxes containing more than 100,000 signatures printed across 4,000 pages, as evidence the community would not feel safe if Ennis were released.

At that hearing, David Ennis spoke about the hit and run where he killed a young man several years before the Johnson Bentley murders. He said that getting away with that crime made it easier for him to escalate his violence. As far as anyone knows, the next crime he committed was after he saw the Johnson Bentley family's vehicles parked at Wells Gray Park. Ennis again spoke of his interest in 13 years.

year old Janet Johnson and why he killed her entire family, quote, I saw them as a means to an end, basically as being in the way of what I wanted at the time. When asked what he did to Janet and 11-year-old Karen the week he held them captive after he'd murdered the adults, Ennis would not answer directly. He claimed, quote, When I saw the effects of that violence in real life, Janet was crying, as was Karen, those things stopped me from escalating to more violence. It did stop me from using the violence for sexual gratification. He told the panel that he'd experienced violent sexual fantasy since his mid-teens, including rape and murder. He did not provide details about a specific sexual interest in young girls, and there's no indication the board

asked. He apologized again and claimed he has powerful feelings of shame and regret and better understands their pain. He said he'd attended several sex offender programs and courses, and despite being assessed as a moderate risk to re-offend, he personally believed he was only low risk. Nine victim impact statements were presented, with family members urging the parole board to reject the application while speaking to their continued fear, grief and the profound harm caused by the murders. They spoke about the lasting impact on their own families, including the intergenerational trauma that continues to affect both adults and children decades later. The family members also described living with ongoing anxiety and concern

for public safety if he's released. The Parole Board acknowledged David Ennis' positive efforts in custody, including better communication and engagement in programming and correctional planning. However, the Board concluded that these factors were outweighed by serious and ongoing risks. The Board emphasized the gravity and severity of his crimes, noting that Ennis continued to experience deviant sexual fantasies and struggle to manage them. His diagnosis of sexual sadism

was found to remain largely unchanged. While Ennis claimed he was self-monitoring his risk factors, the board found those claims could not be verified. The parole board concluded that releasing David Ennis on either day or full parole would significantly compromise public safety. Neither the psychologist nor correctional service Canada supported the release. The most appropriate place for Ennis remained within the safety

and security of the institution. The parole board denied his application. A spokesperson for the Johnson Bentley family later told the media that Ennis only showed remorse for where he was, not for what he had done. They noted from the hearing that even his own wife did not want him living with her full time if released. More than 40 years later, the family says nothing has diminished their fear of the threat Ennis would pose to them and to the public if he was ever released. That is why they continue to fight. Although the parole board has repeatedly found significant risk concerns remain and releasing

David Ennis would seriously compromise public safety, he's still eligible to apply which sets the process in motion again, and here we are. His next parole hearing is in 2006, but the family only has until the end of January to send in their submission and paperwork. They need your help. If you live in Canada and would like to support them, please pause and sign the petition.

There's a link in the show notes, or visit canadian truecrime.ca. Thank you so much in it. advance. Here's a little bit more from my short conversation with Shelley Bowden, the cousin of Janet and Karen. You know, it's just like it happened yesterday and then the tears all come and our family could just be left alone and go through life, the rest of the life that we can without him being around, but unfortunately we're not. Because even when they are convicted and sentenced to life in prison it's it's never over for the victims is it they always have to be

thinking about the next time they have to see the offender in prison for a parole hearing yeah yeah yeah no it's very upsetting and then it's really hard on the family you know you have to up and go and you see him and well he gets three meals a day and you know he gets to be educated and and have conjugal visits with his life which is totally absurd and he gets to change his name And I just don't think that's right. I think, you know, it's just horrified. And the scary part is I'm still paranoid with my kids go camping. My son goes hunting.

I need to know where you are because you just never know. It's impacted our lives, especially now my children are doing it to their children. And it's just not something that shouldn't have ever had to happen. You should be able to go camping and enjoy your time fishing and camping and hiking or whatever. But now I'm afraid that. Yes, she does get out. How do you feel after all these decades to know that this case is still so important to Canadians? You know, it's good.

It's a good feeling. People are aware and they still remember. A lot of people still remember when this happened and where they were. And a really neat and interesting thing as I was during this petition, some lady had got a hold of me. I said, I played Karen on Crime Beach. And I just thought that was just special she reached up and texted me and said that I'm played Karen. And I was never told why or what.

They didn't tell me. I just had to act like I was having fun camping and stuff. And they were told later on when they were old enough what had happened, what this true story was. And she was horrified. And she said, I knew something was wrong when we were doing this. but she didn't know then, but she knows now, and she was very sorry, and she signed the petition. So I thought that was very sweet.

So, Shelly, is there anything that you wanted to say to the listeners? I just want to say, thank you very much for doing this, and we really appreciate it with everybody coming to find the petition, helps numbers, and lets the government know, like, hey, we're not liking us. Like, tell your MPs, tell them that we're not happy with it. You know, last time we had 101,000 signatures, which was unbelievable. You know, we were happy to just get 10. Now we're at 10,000, and, you know, we need to do more of a statement

and get more people to sign, and so how angry they are. And even write a letter, writing a letter speaks the volumes. And thank you very much to everybody who's listening and to help our family keep this monster in jail. Thanks so much to Shelley Bowden and I wish the Johnson and Bentley family all the best in the upcoming hearing. I'll be sure to update you all later about the outcome. Thanks for listening. We piece this episode together from court documents and the news archives. Canadian true crime donates monthly to those facing injustice. So Shelly, is there anything that you wanted

to say to the listeners? We're supporting 28. victim complainants involved in the ongoing trial of Michael Hamer. He faces nearly 100 charges including sexual violence, child exploitation, trafficking, coercion and harassment. You can find more details in the show notes. I hope you have a warm and safe holiday season and I'll be back soon with another Canadian true crime story. See you then. You know,