British Columbia

Family of killer collects reward

Abbotsford city council has voted to give the mother and brother of the Abbotsford killer Terry Driver the $10,000 reward for turning him in.

 

Abbotsford city council has voted to give the mother and brother of the Abbotsford killer Terry Driver the $10,000 reward for turning him in.

The city had put up the money after 16-year-old Tanya Smith was brutally murdered and a friend badly beaten with a baseball bat.

Driver was arrested after his family recognized his voice in taunting calls he made to the police.

Abbotsford Mayor George Ferguson says without the reward, the case might not been solved.

"We weren't getting any responses before the reward became available," he says. "We made a commitment and if we didn't live with out commitment we would probably be out of luck the next time something happened of that nature."

Driver was convicted of first degree murder in Smith's slaying, and sentenced to life in prison in 1995 with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Then in 2000, a judge ruled he was a dangerous offender, which means he will be kept in jail for an indeterminate length of time.

FROM JAN.13, 2000: Abbotsford killer declared dangerous offender