Kaitlynne, Max, Cordon's murder, could it have been prevented?

The prime suspect in the murder of his three children in Merritt had three run-ins with the police in the days following his arrival in the central Interior town just over a week ago. But each time, Allan Dwayne Schoenborn, a 40-year-old Vancouver man with previous criminal charges and a history of mental illness, was let go.

In the seven days before the murders, Merritt RCMP had several dealings with him. They went four times to the trailer were the children's mother, Darcie Clarke, lived with them. Three were at the request of the Ministry of Children and Families; once to arrest Schoenborn for an outstanding warrant for driving while suspended. That wasn't all. RCMP officers arrested him for being drunk in public. And four days before the murders, Schoenborn was arrested at his children's school. He was accused of threatening the principal and a child who he thought had harassed his daughter. The RCMP said they wanted Schoenborn held in custody until his court appearance. But Merritt court had closed. So the RCMP telephoned a Burnaby office where justices of the peace are on call for such occasions. The justice who answered the phone decided Schoenborn wasn't a flight risk, as police alleged. He ordered him released on $100 bail, and to stay away from the girl and the principal and keep the peace.