B.C. child killer Schoenborn’s conditional discharge baffling, says family spokesman

The British Columbia Review Board has granted a conditional discharge for a man convicted in the brutal slayings of his three children.

A family representative for the victims of child killer Allan Schoenborn says the British Columbia Review Board’s decision to grant him a conditional discharge is “baffling” and reveals shortfalls in the province’s mental health and justice systems.

Board chairperson Geneviève Boudreau says in a ruling that took effect on Tuesday that Schoenborn must report to a psychiatric clinic and live under supervision, only returning to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., if ordered to do so by the board.

Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible for the stabbing and smothering of his three children — aged five, eight and 10 — at their Merritt, B.C., home in 2008.

Dave Texeira, who represents the family of the three slain children, says Schoenborn will live in a facility in the Vancouver area, where’s he’s resided for the past year.

He says the family is disappointed but not surprised by the review board’s decision, and that Schoenborn’s violent tendencies and unwillingness to participate in drug and alcohol counselling could pose a risk to the public, as he will be allowed into the community without supervision.

Schoenborn changed his name to Ken John Johnson in 2021, prompting the B.C. government to introduce legislation preventing people convicted of serious crimes from changing their name.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2026.