An Alberta judge who found Travis Vader guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of St. Albert couple Lyle and Marie McCann has sentenced him to life in prison for the crime committed six-and-a-half years ago. 

Vader will not be eligible for parole for seven years.

Handout via Canadian PressLyle and Marie McCann in an undated photo. .

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Shortly after the sentence was handed down, the RCMP released a statement saying, "today, our thoughts are with the McCann family, who have demonstrated courage throughout the tragic loss of Lyle and Marie McCann and the resulting criminal trial"

On Oct. 31, 2016, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Denny Thomas found Vader responsible for the McCanns’ deaths. The couple, both in their late 70s, vanished after leaving their Edmonton-area home on a camping trip to British Columbia in July, 2010. Thomas found that Vader was a desperate drug addict who came across the McCanns in their motorhome near Peers, Alta., and killed them during a robbery.

The couple’s bodies have never been found, and Vader has never confessed to the killing.

More to come

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