Saturday, Mar 05, 2016 06:00 am

By: Doug Neuman

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After more than five and a half years since their disappearance, the facts in the Lyle and Marie McCann murder case will come out in court next week.

Travis Edward Vader is scheduled this Tuesday to face trial on two counts of first-degree murder of the St. Albert residents who disappeared in July 2010.

Their son Bret McCann, who has been speaking on behalf of the family during the whole process, said this week they’re all looking forward to finding out what happened to his parents.

"These past few months have been difficult; it’s like our whole lives are on pause waiting for this to start," he said. "We’re quite looking forward to the trial happening and the evidence coming out."

McCann, his wife, and his daughter have sat in the courtroom for most of the many court hearings related to the disappearance, and he expects to spend as much time as possible watching the trial from the gallery.

"My daughter, and cousins even, are planning on sitting in as much as they can," he said.

The trial is scheduled to run from March 8 to April 8, and is the culmination of several years of RCMP investigation and court proceedings relating to that investigation – the case history is long and complicated.

The McCanns were last seen July 3, 2010, gassing up their motorhome at a St. Albert gas station before heading out west on a planned trip to the coast with a Hyundai Tucson SUV in tow. On July 5, firefighters put out a motorhome fire near Minnow Lake southeast of Edson. RCMP confirmed a week later the motorhome belonged to the McCanns, but the SUV was unaccounted for.

Police said they received multiple reports of the SUV being sighted in and around Prince George, B.C., and on July 16 named Vader as a person of interest in the case. He was arrested July 19 on outstanding warrants not related to the case.

On Aug. 31, 2010 RCMP officially confirmed Vader was a suspect in the case, but he was not arrested and charged with the McCanns’ murders until April 23, 2012.

On March 19, 2014, just weeks before Vader was scheduled to go to trial, Crown prosecutors entered a stay of proceedings, meaning prosecutors could bring back the charges within one year.

At the time, defence lawyer Brian Beresh said RCMP "unfairly vilified" Vader by indicting him in the public eye, and noted the fact proceedings stretched out for four years spoke to the holes in the prosecution’s case.

The length of the proceedings was in fact the subject of a defence application for a judicial stay of proceedings after Vader was re-arrested on murder charges on Dec. 19, 2014.

During a multi-day hearing that began in December 2015 and continued in January this year, Vader’s defence team argued the Crown entered a stay of proceedings in order to give RCMP more time to investigate, amounting to an abuse of process. They also argued the length of the proceedings amounted to breach of Vader’s right to a trial without unreasonable delay, which is guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

During the course of that hearing, media reports revealed details about the Crown’s evidence against Vader, including the fact RCMP used a "jailhouse informant" to gather evidence, the fact there was DNA evidence linking him to the McCanns’ SUV and cellphone records showing he used the McCanns’ cellphone shortly after their disappearance.

Ultimately, Justice Denny Thomas denied the abuse-of-process application. In a decision issued Jan. 26, 2016, he ruled Vader’s charter rights had not been breached as a result of the stay of proceedings and lengthy court process.

"Mr. Vader has come close, very close, but I have decided unreasonable delay has not been shown," he said.

He expanded on this in a written decision issued the same day, noting public confidence in the administration of justice requires Vader be tried on the charges.

"Mr. Vader’s long and interrupted march to the courtroom is troubling, however, given the seriousness of the charges, and the shared interests of Mr. Vader and the public in his very public name being cleared align to favour a full adjudication of the charges against him," Thomas wrote.

The St. Albert Gazette will cover the trial, posting daily updates to the website at www.stalbertgazette.com, along with semi-weekly updates in our print editions.