B.C. child killer Schoenborn’s conditional discharge baffling, says family spokesman

A family representative for the victims of child killer Allan Schoenborn says the British Columbia Review Board’s decision to grant him a conditional discharge is “baffling” and reveals shortfalls in the province’s mental health and justice systems. 

Board chairperson Geneviève Boudreau says in a ruling that took effect on Tuesday that Schoenborn will report to a psychiatric clinic and live under supervision, but he must return to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., if ordered to do so by the board. 

Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible for the first-degree murders of his three children — five-year-old Cordon, eight-year-old Max, and 10-year-old Kaitlynne — at their Merritt, B.C., home in 2008.

The ruling notes that Schoenborn cannot possess a firearm or weapon, use alcohol, cannabis or prohibited drugs, and he must submit to alcohol and drug testing.

Dave Texeira, who represents the family of the three slain children, says Schoenborn will live in a facility in the Vancouver area, where’s he’s lived for the past year.

He says the family was disappointed but not surprised by the review board’s decision, and that Schoenborn’s violent tendencies and unwillingness to participate in drug and alcohol counselling could pose a risk to the public, as he would be allowed into the community without supervision. 

“Allan Schoenborn is more evil than he is ill. He’s more concerned with getting freedom as opposed to getting better,” Texeira said in a phone interview Thursday. 

The review board decision said Schoenborn must “keep the peace and be of good behaviour,” and is forbidden from having direct or indirect contact with three people referred to in the ruling by their initials. 

Texeira said they are family members of the victims.

Former B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad said Schoenborn should remain “locked away” in a post on social media on Thursday.

“The Review Board has once again shown that under this NDP government, dangerous people can gradually work their way toward more freedom, even after committing the most unthinkable crimes against children,” he wrote. 

Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West said he was “outraged” by the board’s decision. 

“A conditional discharge is not a minor administrative step. It is part of a process that moves him closer to greater freedom,” West said on social media on Thursday. 

Schoenborn changed his name to Ken John Johnson in 2021, prompting the B.C. government to introduce legislation preventing people convicted of serious crimes from changing their name.

Texeira has said that Darcie Clarke, the mother of Schoenborn’s three children, died in 2019.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2026. 

By Marissa Birnie | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.