Hunter nabs Schoenborn

A man suspected in the deaths of his three children was captured yesterday by a local hunter in the bush southeast of Merritt.
Allan Dwayne Schoenborn, the only suspect in the deaths of Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5, was arrested yesterday morning and is being held at the Merritt RCMP detachment until charges are laid.
The arrest brings to an end a 10-day manhunt that began when the bodies of Schoenborn’s three children were found dead April 6 inside their mother’s mobile home.
At 10 a.m. yesterday, a local man, out for his daily walk, spotted Schoenborn and his dog, a German Shepherd cross named Van Gogh, on a lane off the old Merritt highway, about two kilometres southeast of a tourist information booth at the junction of highways 5 and 97C.
The man, who did not have a cellphone to call police, walked away from the area and ran into Kim Robinson, a local guide who had been searching the bush around Merritt with his hunting dogs.
“I’ve been looking everyday for him, hiking every bush around here looking for him,” Robinson told Kamloops radio station CHNL. “I’m glad as a Merritt resident, but it’s a sick shitty friggin’ story. Everything involved. The guy looks like a beaten friggin’ … it’s a shitty deal.”
Robinson, who had a gun, told the man to stay where he was and contacted RCMP.
Schoenborn was arrested without incident and was taken to Nicola Valley Health Centre where he was treated for dehydration, said Staff Sgt. Scott Tod, commanding officer of Merritt RCMP detachment.
RCMP received 308 tips in their manhunt and are continuing to investigate to determine the events that led to the children’s deaths and their father’s movements in the days that followed, Tod said.
“We threw every resource that we had into looking for this man and I’m just glad that we got him,” Tod said.
– jeff.hodson@metronews.ca