Dad suspected of killing his three kids faced sex-assault, threatening charges
Author: Terri Theodore, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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MERRITT, B.C. - In the days and months before the bodies of his three young children were found lifeless in their family home, Allan Dwayne Schoenborn had several run-ins with police.

The 40-year-old father was arrested three times in the last week alone by RCMP in the small town of Merritt, B.C.: once on an outstanding warrant for driving while prohibited, once for intoxication and again at the local elementary school for uttering threats, RCMP said.

He was arrested on the school incident last Thursday and released that evening over the objections of the Crown.

Less than a year earlier - last May - he was arrested in Vancouver on charges of sexual assault and uttering threats against a woman, according to court documents.

Now police say he is the suspect in the grisly murders of his own children and is considered mentally disturbed, possibly dangerous and on the run.

"There was no reason for us to foresee these circumstances at all," Const. Julie Rattee said when asked if police felt he was a risk following the incidents last week.

Cordon, 5, Max, 8, and Kaitlynne, 10, were found Sunday in their mother's mobile home in Merritt, a tight-knit ranching community of 7,000 about 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

Neighbours said the mother had gone out for groceries, only to come home to find her children murdered.

On Monday, police informed the public that Schoenborn, their prime suspect, was on the run.

Last July, the sexual assault charges against him were dropped when Schoenborn agreed to stay away from the woman he was accused of sexually assaulting and posted a $500 bond to keep the peace.

Last August, he was charged with breaching his conditions, which included not being near the woman's Vancouver home if he had consumed alcohol in the previous 12 hours.

He pleaded guilty to one count and was fined $200 but the second count was stayed.

Then last week, Schoenborn was arrested at the school his children attended in Merritt and charged with making threats.

Kendra Bennett, who stopped by the memorial to leave flowers for her friend said Schoenborn had apparently threatened a girl student but showed no sign of anger when she saw him later.

"He came in the lunchroom after he talked with the principal and started acting all nice and he was like 'hey kids I'm Kaitlynne's dad,' " said Bennett. "He was always freaky to me. I never liked him."

There was a court order barring him from contacting the principal and the other children at the school but he did not have an order against seeing his own children.

School district superintendent Byron Robbie said Diamond Vail, which has just over 200 students, would remain closed until Schoenborn was arrested, with parents informed by phone on a day-to-day basis.

Bolstering security would be impractical, he said.

"We've thought about those kind of things but students walk to school from a variety of places in the community, they arrive by bus," said Robbie.

Counselling services will be in place when students return. Robbie said the slain children were enrolled in school last fall and were in kindergarten, Grades 2 and 4.

RCMP gave no indication Sunday they were seeking a suspect or that there was a risk to the public, saying it was a targeted crime.

But on Monday, 20 hours after the children's bodies were found, police issued their warning. Their bodies were still in the house Monday afternoon.

The police bulletin came as a shock to Karl Schoenborn, of Lorette, Man., who heard a report on the killings as he and his wife drove in their car.

Allen Schoenborn spent his early childhood in Manitoba, said his uncle, who was shaken when he heard his nephew's name.

"We both just looked at each other and we couldn't believe it," the elder Schoenborn said in an interview. "What a sickening thing to happen - I mean innocent little children."

Schoenborn said he hasn't seen his nephew since he moved away.

"There was something (mentally) wrong with him," he said, adding he'd heard tidbits about Schoenborn's behaviour over the years from other family members.

Mo Quinn, a Vancouver business owner who used to contract out work to Schoenborn, said he worked with the wanted man on and off over a period of a few years up until 2006.

He remembered Schoenborn as an affable fellow and was shocked at the news.

"He was a pretty quiet guy," said Quinn, who recalls the roofer bringing two of his children by a few times.

In summers, Schoenborn usually booked time off for a family vacation, he said.

"We used to call him Little Al, because he was just a little guy," Quinn said.

He was a hard worker and "when he was there, he always gave you an honest day's work."

But Schoenborn could be quite a drinker, he said, who binged from time to time.

Schoenborn has had other run-ins with the law.

Criminal records in British Columbia show he pleaded guilty last January to driving while impaired on Nov. 22, 2007, but a month later was charged with driving while under suspension following an traffic accident.

The day before the killings, neighbour Clint Heigh said he chatted over the fence with the Schoenborn, who had recently joined the family.

Heigh, a prison chaplain, said the woman and her three children had lived alone in the mobile home for the four or five months since they'd arrived.

"Then a man showed up a week or so ago and we noticed him in the yard cleaning," Heigh said.

"On Saturday, he came up to the fence and talked to me and asked me what I did. I told him and he had some questions about that."

Heigh said the man told him he was a roofer from Vancouver and "found that it was difficult to maintain a family and live in Vancouver."

"Then, for some reason, I'm not a mystic of any kind, but I told him, I said 'If you ever need help, please feel welcome to give me a shout,"' a shaken Heigh said.

"He thanked me and he turned around and walked away... and then within 24 hours of offering him ... whatever happened."

RCMP say Schoenborn, who has a distinct scar on his right eyebrow that continues down the right side of his face and scars on both his ears, may be travelling with a large dog and has previously expressed a wish to camp out in the bush.

He has brown hair and hazel eyes, weighs about 130 pounds and is about five feet, four inches in height.

The school the children attended was closed Monday as a flower memorial grew outside the yellow police tape that surrounds the home.

Kendra Bennett, 9, dropped off flowers Monday for her friend Kaitlynne.

Through tears, Bennett said her friend was beautiful, with long, blonde hair, but she struggled to make the transition to a new school.

"Kids always teased her because of what she wore and no one really liked her because she was new," Bennett said. "She only had a few friends."

Misty McKenna believes her five-year-old daughter was friends with the family's youngest child.

"He was just a quiet little boy," she said. "All the kids in school liked him.

"I'm trying to figure out how to explain to my daughter that her friend is gone. I just don't understand how anyone could do this to a child."

She said her daughter asked why she wasn't going to school today.

I explained something bad has happened."

McKenna said she'll wait to discuss the tragedy's details with her daughter after finding out how the school will handle it.

"I don't want to upset her right now. It's so hard to explain to a child that their friend has been so brutally murdered by someone who's supposed to protect them."

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