EDMONTON  - Travis Vader — in Edmonton remand on unrelated charges — has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder for killing a St. Albert couple who mysteriously vanished in 2010.

Vader, 40, was charged over the weekend with the slayings of Lyle McCann and Marie McCann.

"This is an excellent day for us and our family," the couple’s son Bret McCann said at RCMP K-Division in Edmonton Monday.

"We are very optimistic that this brings us one step closer to finding out what happened to my parents."

The elderly couple was reported missing by the family on July 10, 2010.

They were last seen alive on July 3, 2010. Vader was charged at the Edmonton Remand Centre where he is being held on unrelated charges. Vader’s first court appearance on this matter is set for May 15, in Edson.

Mounties can reveal few details as the case is "ongoing" and now before the courts.

"Understandably, the public has many questions about what happened to the McCanns’," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Shawn LeMay, at K-Division with the family.

"Those questions will be answered in court."

Bret McCann says the his family "will put (their) trust in the legal system" for the next few weeks and months ahead.

"But I need to emphasize we still don’t know what happened to my parents or where my parents are," he stressed.

"This has been quite an ordeal and we’ve waited a long time for this arrest — it’s just over two years."

He added that though police haven’t revealed "certain details" about the case to the family, they have "always felt reassured" by investigators.

In February, Vader was denied release following an Edmonton bail hearing.

Lyle McCann, 78, and Marie McCann, 72, were last seen fuelling their motorhome in St. Albert on July 3, 2010, before heading on a camping trip through the Rocky Mountains. They were scheduled to meet their daughter in Abbotsford a week later, but never made it.

Two days after they were last seen, their RV was found engulfed in flames near the Minnow Lake campground, 20 km east of Edson. The Tucson SUV they were towing was soon discovered near Carrot Creek, 30 km east of Edson.

The couple has since been declared dead and presumed murdered, but their remains have yet to be found.

The RCMP continued to maintain that Vader was a suspect in the disappearance.

Vader was in remand on property-related charges from the Barrhead area.

In December, Vader was handed a 33 1/2 -month sentence, deemed time served based on pre-trial custody, after being convicted of a number of charges stemming from a crime spree west of Edmonton in December 2009.

Vader was given a reduced sentence after the judge ruled he was held for an extended period of time in segregation as a result of alleged threats and abuse stemming from his being a suspect in the McCanns’ disappearance.

jeff.cummings@sunmedia.ca

@SUNJeffCummings