Stevenson complaint unsubstantiated, says OPCC

Heron Inquest ends with findings and recommendations

Heron Inquest winds down

Berg death a homicide, jury rules

Jeff Berg Inquest - Latest developments

Berg Inquest adjourned to August 9, 2004

'Problem' solved, Berg inquest hears further witness testimony

'Problem' arises, Berg inquest adjourned

Judge tosses out charges, cites police misconduct

BC Government agency takes homeless to court over $100

October 2004

September 2004

August 2004

July 2004

June 2004

May 2004

March 2004

February 2004

January 2004

December 2003

November 2003

October 2003

September 2003

July 2003

June 2003

After a week of dramatic testimony, the four-man, one-woman jury at the coroner's inquest into the deaths of Sherry Heron, Anna Adams and Bryan Heron delivered its findings and recommendations.

The jury found that Sherry Heron and Anna Adams were the victims of homicide, while Bryan Heron's death was "undetermined". Seven recommendations for procedural improvement were directed to the RCMP and to the Mission Memorial Hospital.

Coroner Marj Paonessa and the jury had earlier heard that Senior Correctional Officer Bryan Heron received a restraining order at 3:33 p.m. on May 20, 2003, left work and went to Mission Memorial Hospital, where he walked in to his wife's hospital room and fatally shot her and her mother. The hospital staff had received a copy of the restraining order, but took no steps to keep Heron away or hide his wife from him. Bryan Heron died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the bush on May 23, 2003 as police closed in.

A week earlier (May 13, 2003), Sherry Heron's sister, brother and brother-in-law had gone to the Mission RCMP and reported incidents of domestic violence and threats by Bryan Heron against his hospitalized spouse. RCMP Cst. Mike Pfeifer interviewed a frightened and upset Sherry Heron that day, who confirmed the threats and said she feared for her and her family's safety. Cst. Pfeifer spoke to his own father, a corrections colleague of Byan Heron's, and was told Heron was a "good person". Cst. Pfeifer did not investigate the matter further.

The incident was remarkably similar to a tragedy in Veron seven years earlier, where an estranged husband killed nine members of his family before taking his own life. That incident also resulted in a coroner's inquest. At the time, a headline in The Province newspaper read, "RCMP ignored death threats". The article continued, "The Mounties ignored a woman's complaint that her estranged husband had threatened to kill her and her family, an inquest into their deaths heard yesterday."