Mental state ‘stable’ for father who killed kids, B.C. review board says

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 board stopped short of granting him an absolute discharge, pointing to an expert report that says without oversight in the community he would likely have no connections, raising the risk of him stopping treatment and relapsing.

A psychiatric report says Schoenborn’s long-term plans have been to live in an apartment and get a cat, and that he said he is not interested in an intimate relationship.

The board’s written decision notes that lawyers for both the attorney general and the director of the forensic hospital argued that the evidence “continues to establish that Mr. Schoenborn meets the threshold of significant threat so as to warrant the continued involvement of forensic services in Mr. Schoenborn’s life and board oversight.”

The written decision says the crimes in question are “of the utmost seriousness.”

“The depth of anguish and heartbreak experienced by the victims’ family and loved ones is immeasurable and cannot be overstated,” it says.

A representative for the family of Schoenborn’s victims has called the decision to grant the condition discharge “baffling.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 8, 2026

The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Mental state ‘stable’ for father who killed kids, B.C. review board says

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