'This is not what justice looks like': No answers, no explanations as charge stayed in woman's death

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in June 2016 when Bert Westervelt and his wife of nearly 30 years got into a canoe to paddle on Okanagan Lake. 

The water was calm, both were experienced canoeists and neither of them wore a life-jacket. 

The canoe capsized. Bert was rescued by a passing boater but Arlene Westervelt never resurfaced. 

The 56-year-old's body was found the following day by an RCMP dive team, about 24 metres from shore . 

Arlene's sister still remembers being told the horrible news by her mother. 

"She told me Arlene and Bert were out canoeing last evening on Lake Okanagan and I stopped her right there," said Debbie Hennig, one of three sisters who were born and raised in Grande Prairie, Alta. "I just screamed to my mom, 'This is no accident. He's done something to her.'"

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At first, Arlene's death was ruled an accidental drowning but, behind the scenes, RCMP officers were investigating it as a homicide. 

On April 5, 2019, nearly three years after her death, Bert Westervelt was charged with second-degree murder. A preliminary hearing that was expected to last five weeks was scheduled to get underway on Sept. 14, 2020.  

But two months ago, the Crown stayed the charge against Westervelt, after receiving "new information" that led them to the conclusion that their charge assessment standard was no longer met, a B.C. Prosecution Service spokesperson said at the time.

Hennig plans to hold a news conference on the front steps of the Kelowna courthouse Monday morning to demand answers. 

"I feel violated. I feel duped," she said. "I am absolutely appalled at our judicial system and how flawed it is." 

Hennig wants to exert pressure on the Crown to explain why the murder charge was stayed at the eleventh hour. 

"They cannot leave us in the dark," she said. "They have to give us a valid reason why charges were stayed." 

Cause of death 

Hennig said there's much about this case that just doesn't make any sense, beginning with how her younger sister could have drowned. 

"How does someone — who lives on the lake and is a good swimmer and an athletic, highly experienced canoeist who always practised water safety and wore her life-jacket — accidentally tip a canoe and drown?" she asked. "My beautiful sister lost her life under very suspicious circumstances."

Even the cause of death remains a mystery. The coroner's office would only tell Hennig that the cause was "undetermined" and the Crown has also refused to provide the cause of death, she said. 

Hennig's attempts to obtain a copy of the autopsy report have been unsuccessful. 

Cory Armour, defence lawyer for Bert Westervelt, confirmed to CBC News that a cause of death had been defined later but he wouldn't reveal any details.

He also told CBC that allegations of strangulation were "never accurate."

"Strangulation was never determined to be the cause of death," Armour said in a telephone interview. "He never strangled her." 

Exhaustive investigation 

The investigation into Arelene Westervelt's death was handled initially by the RCMP's Lake County detachment, then transferred to the serious crime unit where homicide detectives took the lead. 

Sixteen months after her sister died, Hennig and her husband flew from Quebec to Kelowna to meet with the two lead investigators. 

"There were the black boxes and the files stacked up on the desk with her name on the file," Hennig said. "So I knew that they had a tremendous amount of documentation and files already." 

She said the planned lengthy preliminary hearing would have reflected the extensive investigation. Hennig said the Crown told her there was a "mountain of evidence" and "thousands of documents." 

The defence lawyer told CBC News a number of police and civilian witnesses were to have been called to testify and that there was going to be "a large focus on inferences to be drawn from their relationship." 

Hennig believes there were problems in her sister's marriage. 

"I knew things were rocky," she said. "We did know that there was trouble. Arlene had alluded to it." 

CBC News asked Bert Westervelt's lawyer if that was true. 

"I know that some of Arlene's family members were certainly of the belief that their marriage was having more problems than perhaps it was," Armour said. "I'm not going to comment further on that." 

The lawyer added that the past four years have been very difficult for his client. 

"He was involved in a grief counselling group," Armour said. "He misses her pretty much every day. He loved his wife." 

Mysterious new evidence 

Hennig said she was shattered when the Crown told her the murder charge would be stayed and incensed when the prosecutor refused to say what new evidence was uncovered. 

Her next phone call was to the RCMP homicide investigator. 

"He said, 'We are just processing this information. We are all reeling. This came out of the blue. We are all shocked,'" Hennig recounted. "He was as shocked as I was." 

Armour said he knows what the new evidence is but declined to be more specific. 

"I can say evidence was supportive of the fact that Mr. Westervelt did not kill his wife," Armour told CBC News. "He maintains his innocence and the evidence supported that." 

Armour refused to say where the new evidence came from but he said it is strong enough that he doesn't believe the charge will be reactivated within the prescribed one-year time period. 

"I think justice was done," Armour said. "I think everybody should be satisfied that an innocent man was not put through the burden of a trial that he should not have had to endure." 

Debbie Hennig is convinced that one day she'll find out what really happened. 

"We are going to overturn every stone to get to the bottom of this," she vowed. "This is not what justice looks like."