Three children found dead
Author: Darah Hansen and Catherine Rolfsen, Vancouver Sun
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MERRITT - Diamond Vale elementary school in Merritt will be closed Monday as staff, parents and students try to come to terms with the deaths of three children in what police are calling a triple homicide.

The three children - a girl and two boys in kindergarten, Grade 2 and Grade 4 - were found dead by their mother inside the family's mobile home at 2916 Telemon Place at about 2 p.m. today.

Homicide investigators remain on the scene, with yellow police tape and uniformed officers blocking access to much of the surrounding street.

A small memorial consisting of flowers and a card signed in a child's handwriting could be seen near the home.

RCMP were saying little about what they believe happened inside the home earlier that day, and the name of the family has not been released.

As of 7 p.m. tonight, Cpl. Tracy Dunsmore said police had no one in custody, but said the deaths are not the result of a random act.

It appears the family was relatively new to the Merritt area, with the children enrolling in Diamond Vale school in September.

No one on the street knew much about the family.

"They weren't very friendly," said next-door neighbour Boyd Sherman. "They just kind of avoided everybody."

He said when he arrived home around 3 p.m., there were at least six police vehicles and an ambulance at the mobile home and the neighbourhood was closed to the public.

Greg Stephens, who lives down the street from the home involved, said he didn't know the family either, but thought they had moved to town recently.

"I've seen the children out playing outside," he said, adding that he believed there were two boys and a girl.

Neighbour Ronald Bready was "horrified" to hear of the deaths of the three children he had often seen playing in their yard.

"The kids were good and friendly," he said. "I didn't know the parents."

Neighbour Gary Derksen said he's seen the children with their mother on their way to school, but couldn't recall ever seeing the father.

Derksen said Telemon Place is made up of two cul-de-sacs, and is a mix of families and retirees in mobile homes.

"We're kind of shocked," Derksen said. "It's such a nice quiet town and nothing really happens here. So all of sudden something like this, it's just unreal."

Clint Heigh, who shares a backyard fence with the crime scene, said he saw a man he believes was the children's father for the first time just a few days before the children were killed. Heigh, a chaplain at the Kamloops correction facility, said he spoke with the man briefly Saturday afternoon when they were both out in their backyards, but hadn't seen him since.

Neighbour Dan Robins said he saw the woman walking by herself toward a nearby store shortly before 2 p.m. Robins said the woman returned to the home about 15 minutes later and, moments later, four police cruisers pulled up to the home with their emergency lights flashing.

The clearly distraught woman was later taken by ambulance from the scene.

School district superintendent Byron Robbie said Diamond Vale elementary will be closed Monday and, when classes resume, counsellors will be on hand for students, parents and staff.

"It's just real sad, and a real tragedy," he said.

Merritt city councillor Nadia Hunter said the incident will have a deep impact on the small B.C. Interior community.

"This is an unbelievable tragedy," she said.

dahansen@png.canwest.com

crolfsen@png.canwest.com

© Vancouver Sun

Crime scene of possible homicide in Merritt, Sunday. Katey Sasges / Special To The Sun

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