Warning: Graphic content A $2-million lawsuit filed by a triple-murderer whose graphic, violent manuscript was seized by corrections officers has been dismissed by a B.C. judge, who found there was no evidence a “lucrative” publishing deal was thwarted. Adrian Kinkead has been behind bars for almost three decades and is currently incarcerated at a medium-security penitentiary in Mission, B.C. In addition to convictions for three counts of first-degree murder, Kinkead was also found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of forcible confinement, and two counts of robbery. The B.C. Supreme Court decision dismissing Kinkead’s civil claim against the Correctional Service of Canada does not provide much information about Kinkead’s crimes. However, a decision from earlier this year denying parole paints a much more detailed and disturbing picture. ‘Evil and fiendish person’ In August of 1995, Kinkead brutally and fatally stabbed 19-year-old Marsha Ottey and her 16-year-old sister Tamara at their Toronto-area home. Marsha was the ex-girlfriend of Kinkead’s cousin and co-accused. “The judge described you as an ‘evil and fiendish person’ with ‘no real motive’ to your offending and ‘no regard for human life,’” a decision from the Parole Board of Canada from March of 2026 said, quoting from the sentencing for the Ottey sisters murders. In September and October of 1995, Kinkead also committed a “string” of violent crimes targeting people leaving the same Scarborough subway station around 2 a.m. “The first victim was a woman you threatened with a firearm, robbed, and repeatedly sexually assaulted for about two hours…You held another woman at gunpoint, robbed her, and sexually assaulted her for about one-and-a-half hours,” the parole board’s decision said. Kinkead’s final crime in the spree was the murder of a TTC fare collector, Dimitrija Trajceski. “You tied his wrists behind his back, robbed him, and then repeatedly stabbed him in the chest with a knife before fleeing the scene,” the parole board’s decision said. “Overall, your violence was extreme, gratuitous, and resulted in multiple deaths.” Kinkead fled the country and was arrested in the United States in February of 1996, according to the parole board. The murder victims are not identified in the parole board’s decision but all three are named in publicly available court documents. “Victim statements attest to the general character of the people you killed; the devastating impact your offences have had their family members; and that the enduring harm has impacted so many facets of the victims’ lives including social, mental, emotional, and financial,” the parole board’s decision said. “These statements confirm that the impact of your offending is generational in nature.” Jailhouse manuscript Kinkead’s manuscript was found on “diskettes” in 2016, when guards were searching another inmate’s cell, according to Justice Edlyn Laurie’s decision on the civil case. That cell housed Charles Kembo—a notorious B.C. serial killer who made headlines for publishing a young adult novel under a pseudonym. Correctional officials reviewed the contents of Kinkead’s manuscript and found it featured “significant violence,” including “graphic descriptions of the rape, torture, and killing of a female correctional officer, the enslavement of a police officer, and the assassination of multiple police officers,” according to the decision. The decision also said the manuscript depicted a character who “sought to exact revenge on a victim who provided information to the police against him” and that “the name of the victim is similar to one of Adrian’s sexual assault victims.” The manuscript included other potential connections to Kinkead’s life such as “similar names of Crown counsel, police officers, and a news reporter,” the judge wrote. The parole board, in its most recent decision, described the manuscript as “a gratuitously violent and sexually explicit story that was seen to have similarities to (Kinkead’s) offences.” Civil lawsuit seeks $2M in damages Kinkead, along with his brother, filed the lawsuit against the Attorney General of Canada which oversees the Correctional Service of Canada. The claim sought $ 2 million in damages for “copyright infringement, trespass to chattels, breach of fiduciary duty, intimidation, conspiracy, and negligence,” according to the decision. The two main allegations were that the seizure of the manuscript got in the way of Kinkead securing a million-dollar publishing contract, and that correctional officials used the manuscript “to (Kinkead’s) detriment” when making decisions about matters including Kinkead’s risk level and eligibility for parole. The bulk of the damages claimed stemmed from the “alleged losses caused by the termination or frustration” of the publishing agreement, the judge’s decision said. ‘Fictitious or non-existent’ publisher In addition to the manuscript, the seized diskettes contained what the judge described as a “purported publishing agreement.” The agreement was between Kinkead and Excelsior London Media LLC carrying on business as Excelsior Press, according to the decision. The evidence submitted to the court about the publisher led the judge to find it was “fictitious or non-existent,” meaning any contract was void and legally meaningless. Even if the publisher had been legitimate, the judge still found there was no publishing contract because the agreement was only signed by Kinkead and emails submitted to the court showed “no agreement had been finalized.” History of grievances A civil suit for damages, the judge found, was not the appropriate mechanism for Kinkead to seek redress for his complaints about “the propriety or correctness of the seizure of the manuscript and its subsequent treatment and use by CSC in Adrian’s case management.” Administrative decisions made by the federal correctional service can be challenged by filing a grievance using the procedures outlined in the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, the judge noted. Kinkead filed 11 grievances stemming from the seizure of the manuscript and his computer between 2016 and 2023, according to Laurie’s decision. All of them were unsuccessful. The proper venue for Kinkaid to further challenge the decisions of the correctional service is in federal court, by seeking a judicial review, according to Laurie—who pointed out Kinkead has already sought judicial review of some of the decisions on his grievances. Kinkead’s claim was dismissed, with costs awarded to the Attorney General of Canada. If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
