Murder Times Six: The True Story of the Wells Gray Murders by Alan R Warren
Review by jjares
This story tells about the murder of three generations of a family in Wells Gray Park in Canada in the 1980s. It is well-researched and written engagingly. However, no words can whitewash the horrific murders of a pair of grandparents, parents, and two girls while camping. David Shearing shot the four adults because he wanted the two girls. The girls had gone to sleep in their tent while the adults were sitting around the campfire chatting.
When apprehended, David admitted to the killings (but the police knew he kept something back). For the six murders, David was sentenced to six concurrent terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 25 years. After he admitted he was guilty in court (and nothing more could be done to him), David admitted to the horrific details of the girl’s last days. He did not kill the girls immediately but took them away and kept them alive for several days. During that time, he raped and then murdered the girls. They were eleven and thirteen years old.
To hide his crimes, David put the six bodies in one car and incinerated them. When the vehicle was found, the bodies had been cremated. There was only enough matter left to fill one baby’s coffin. Once David learned how vehemently British Columbians hated him, he changed his last name to his mother’s Ennis.
Then, this true crime book takes an unusual turn. David was only twenty-four at the time of the murders. This book highlights the Canadian prison system and some of its quirks. David was able to marry while in prison. He also has the right to conjugal visits of 72 hours (in a prison home). In 2008, David was first eligible for parole. When the community that the Johnsons and Bentleys came from discovered the possibility of parole, they gathered together and got about 10,000 signatures to protest it.
Unfortunately, the victim’s families must undergo a parole hearing every two years. So they come in force and give poignant victim statements to the Parole Board. One thing the author highlights (and readers rarely consider) is that the younger family members were victims too. Their parents were too afraid to allow them outside alone; they’d spent their lives afraid.
There is a previous book, THE SEVENTH SHADOW. It was written by the (now retired) Mounted Police Sgt. Michael Eastham. In that book, Eastham outlined the difficulties (using tracking dogs, helicopters, and an extensive workforce) the police had in capturing David Shearing. MURDER TIMES SIX summarizes Eastham’s information and then moves on.
The emphasis of this book (as well as Eastham’s) is that David Shearing Ennis should never be released. Eastham stated he was sure that if David were released, he would kill again.
