Suspected killer of 3 children in B.C. has violent past: documents

The man suspected of killing his three children in a trailer home in Merritt, B.C., Sunday afternoon has outstanding charges for sexual assault, uttering threats and breaching a restraining order, CBC News has learned.

Police searching for Allan Dwayne Schoenborn, 40, said Monday evening he could have travelled as far as Alberta.

Police released the names of the slain children: Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5.

"Their father, Allan Schoenborn, had been caring for them in their mother's absence [Sunday afternoon]. When the children's mother made the discovery, Schoenborn was no longer on scene," the RCMP said in a news release.

The children and their mother, Darcie Clarke, moved to Merritt from Vancouver last September, police said, adding Schoenborn, who doesn't seem to have a fixed address in Merritt, probably went to the city early last week.

Court documents obtained by CBC News on Monday show Schoenborn was charged with breaching a restraining order over a threat of violence against Clarke last August. The restraining order was granted after an incident in Vancouver in May.

Schoenborn is also charged with sexual assault against a Vancouver woman in May and a breach of his bail conditions on that charge six months later.

He pleaded guilty to drinking and driving last November. Part of his sentence included a one-year driving ban but he broke that after one month, the records show.

RCMP said Monday that Schoenborn was arrested last week on an outstanding warrant, but did not provide details.

Schoenborn arrested, released Thursday

Schoenborn was then arrested at Diamond Vale Elementary School in Merritt Thursday, and was charged with threatening to hurt students for teasing his daughter.

Schoenborn was arrested on two counts of "uttering threats to cause bodily harm," police said.

He was released from custody on a surety and with conditions not to have contact with the school principal or the students.

More than 20 investigators are involved in tracking Schoenborn, police said.

"He could be dangerous and he's suffered from mental illness," Merritt RCMP Const. Julie Rattee said Monday morning. "He had previously expressed wishes to camp out in the bush with his dog."

Schoenborn may be travelling with a large, German shepherd-retriever cross named Van Gogh, police said.

Schoenborn was described by police as Caucasian, five feet four inches tall and about 130 pounds, with hazel eyes, brown hair and facial stubble. He has a distinct scar on his right eyebrow that continues down the right side of his face, and scars on both ears.

Police on Monday said earlier media reports that Schoenborn had been found dead in the trailer home along with his three children were wrong.

The warning that Schoenborn might be dangerous contrasted with earlier police statements that investigators were confident that the general public was not in danger.

A police-enforced lockdown of Telemon Place, the neighbourhood in the small community about 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver where the children were killed, had been lifted by Sunday evening.

"We don't feel there's a threat to the community," Const. Tracy Dunsmore told reporters on Sunday afternoon.

Dunsmore said the cause of the deaths would not be known until a coroner completes the autopsies. More police have been called in to investigate, including the RCMP major crimes unit from Kelowna, B.C.

Diamond Vale Elementary closed Monday

Diamond Vale Elementary, the school the young victims attended, was closed Monday.

"It's going to be very hard on the families involved and we will do what we can to support them," said Merritt Mayor David Laird.

Neighbours — many of them leaving flowers near the police-taped property — said they saw the children's mother run from her trailer Sunday afternoon in a state of grief and panic.

"The tears were just pouring. Her face was just beet red," said Dan Robins, who saw her leave the home at about 2 p.m. PT for about 10 minutes before returning.

"I've seen distraught people but, I mean, this was like a horror show."

Police have not released any details about the family.

Clint Heigh, a neighbour, told CBC News the three children and their mother were joined about a week ago by a man believed to be the children's father.

Heigh said the man told him he was a roofer from Vancouver.

"He told me … that he was finding having to work in Vancouver with his family here … well, it really wasn't working out for them and it kind of sounded like maybe he was thinking of making a change there," Heigh said.

Robins said he saw the man flying a kite with the three children in a park on Saturday.