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T UESDAY , Jul y 20, 2010
28 Pages
Page A26
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Cops catch up to Vader
CRASH INVERTED VIBE
“Person of interest” held in case of missing pair headed to Abbotsford Intl. Airport
R
found a black metal bicycle handlebar under the front floor mat and a tire iron in the trunk. The women’s injuries could have been caused by the bar or the tire iron, a witness testified. A car similar to Butorac’s was seen on surveillance footage twice entering and leaving the industrial park where Koroll’s body was dumped. A tire mark on Koroll’s right wrist was also matched to the rear passenger-side tire on Butorac’s car. Footprints found around Koroll’s body may have been left by shoes taken off Butorac’s feet in October 2007. Blood found on one of the shoes and shoelaces was matched to Koroll.
CMP are questioning Travis Edward Vader, the Alberta man who they named as a “person of interest” last Friday in the disappearance of Lyle and Marie McCann. The couple, 78 and 77, respectively, were on their way from their Alberta hometown of St. Albert to meet family members in Abbotsford in early July, but never showed up. T h e y w e r e l a s t “Vader is currently in seen on July 3 at a custody on the outgas station near their home, on their standing warrants and way to B.C. will be interviewed On July 10, seven days after they concerning the McCann were last seen, the missing persons case.” Mc Ca n n s’ f a m i l y reported them miss– RCMP statement ing when they failed to rendezvous with their daughter at the First reported @ Abbotsford airport. RCMP said Vader, abbotsfordtimes.com 3 8 , w a s a r re s t e d without incident early Monday morning at a rural home near the hamlet of Niton Junction, close to where Vader’s family lives, and about 70 kilometres west of Edmonton. Vader, who police described as a threat to the public, was arrested without injury by the Edmonton RCMP emergency response team, along with the Edmonton police tactical unit and the fugitive apprehension sheriff support team. “Vader is currently in custody on the outstanding warrants and will be interviewed concerning the McCann missing persons case,” the RCMP said in a statement on Monday morning. “The location of Vader’s arrest will be the subject of the continuing investigation.” Vader is wanted in connection with at least 17 drug, gun, theft and arson charges stemming from two incidents, unrelated to the McCann investigation.
see GUILTY, page A5
see MISSING, page A7
– CHRISTINA TOTH/TIMES
This eastbound Pontiac Vibe flipped when it hit a van at Maclure and Clearbrook roads in Abbotsford on Friday at 1 p.m. The male driver of the Vibe was hospitilized with minor injuries. The driver of the van, Imtiaz Hussain, 49, and his passenger were not injured.
Butorac guilty in Lawton death
Body dumped on side of rural Abby road JENN SALTMAN The Province
A
New Westminster Supreme Court jury took less than five hours to find Aldergrove’s Davey Mato Butorac guilty of killing two sex-trade workers, including 46-year-old Gwendolyn Jo Lawton of Abbotsford. The six-man, six-woman jury came back with the verdict Thursday night. Butorac was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the 2007 deaths of Lawton and 50-year-old Sheryl Lynn Koroll.
Lawton’s body was found on March 13, 2007, dumped over an embankment beside a rural road in Abbotsford. Lawton had been beaten and strangled. Three and a half months later, Koroll’s body was found in a Langley industrial park. Koroll, who was also beaten, died of a skull fracture. Butorac’s white Chevrolet Cavalier was a key piece of evidence in the prosecution’s case. Blood and DNA in the trunk and passenger side of Butorac’s car – which Butorac told an undercover police officer he didn’t let anyone else drive – were matched to Lawton and Koroll. When police searched Butorac’s car, they
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