Saturday, Jun 20, 2015 06:00 am

By: Viola Pruss

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After allegedly assaulting his common-law spouse, Travis Vader is back in custody.

The man charged in the deaths of two St. Albert seniors was arrested in Barrhead on June 13. His common law spouse had called police after Vader allegedly assaulted her that day, said Sgt. Bob Dodds with the Barrhead RCMP detachment.

She later told officers about another alleged assault on her by Vader earlier this year. Dodds said officers are investigating both allegations.

"There is going to be some sorting out happening," he said. "She contacted us about the assault that happened (on June 13) and over the course of speaking to her she made the second disclosure."

Vader now faces two assault charges and six charges of failing to comply with conditions. He appeared in Barrhead court Wednesday by closed-circuit television and was denied bail.

Dodds said both Vader and the woman were living in Barrhead at the time of the assault, as was approved by Vader’s bail supervisor. Barrhead is about 114 km northwest of St. Albert.

Vader has been in and out of jail since the disappearance of St. Albert seniors Lyle and Marie McCann. The couple went missing in July 2010 on a trip to British Columbia to visit family.

Vader was formally charged in the disappearance of the McCann’s nearly two years after he was named a suspect. The charges were stayed in March 2014, a few weeks before he was to face a jury trial. He was rearrested on the charges in December and ordered to remain under house arrest.

This is the fourth time Vader was arrested since the murder charges were reinstated.

In February, he was charged with an alleged assault on his mother’s boyfriend in St. Albert. He was arrested again, 16 days later, in the rural Carrot Creek area with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and six counts of failing to comply with court-ordered conditions. He was granted bail in both incidents.

In April, he was charged for allegedly violating a curfew condition at his residence in Camrose. The Crown later dropped the charge of breaching bail on the grounds it was not in the public interest to proceed.

His trial on the McCann charges is scheduled for March 2016. He will be back in Barrhead Court via closed-circuit television from the Edmonton Remand Centre on June 23.