The 2022 shooting deaths of a woman in Creston and a man in Kimberley — both at first ruled accidental by a B.C. coroner — have left their loved ones in pain and fear four years later, the killer’s sentencing hearing heard on Wednesday.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

• Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
• Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
• Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
• Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
• Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

• Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
• Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
• Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
• Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
• Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

• Access articles from across Canada with one account.
• Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
• Enjoy additional articles per month.
• Get email updates from your favourite authors.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

• Access articles from across Canada with one account
• Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments
• Enjoy additional articles per month
• Get email updates from your favourite authors

Sign In or Create an Account

or View more offers

The Crown and the lawyer for Mitchell McIntyre agreed in a joint submission that an appropriate sentence would see him in prison for 13 years without a chance at parole for the second-degree murder of Julia Howe. They also jointly recommended eight years for manslaughter with a firearm for the killing of David Creamer, to be served concurrently.

Families live in pain, fear after bizarre double killing in B.C.’s Kootenays Back to video

The sentencing hearing is scheduled for three days and it is up to the judge to decide whether to accept the joint submission.

The hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops, attended by McIntyre, also heard from the victims’ family members, nine of whom prepared impact statements, which they or the prosecutor read into the record.

In his statement, Howe’s partner, Frank Reiner, said he misses her company every day and the murder profoundly changed him.

“I lock all my doors and windows now,” he said. “I sleep with an axe under my bed and a bat in my guest bedroom because I know the cops won’t help me.”

On Feb. 6, 2022, Howe was shot in the head by McIntyre, a family friend who rented an apartment from Reiner. After police investigated, a coroner concluded she had fallen and hit her head.

Creamer’s death later that same day was declared accidental by the same coroner who, without attending the scene, also concluded the victim had fallen and hit his head.

It wasn’t until a distraught McIntyre told hospital staff days later that he killed someone named “Creamly” in Kimberley that a small bullet hole was discovered in Howe’s head, and McIntyre was charged. By then, Creamer’s body had been cremated so, without evidence, no charges were laid.

During the trial late last year, McIntyre pleaded guilty to Howe’s death and later to Creamer’s.

1. Advertisement 1

   Story continues below

   This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

The ordeal for Reiner, whom police interviewed as a possible suspect and lived under that suspicion by some residents up until the 2023 preliminary hearing, won’t “stop until McIntrye is gone, is dead.”

He said he worries that McIntyre, a former friend and tenant who shared part of his rental accommodations with Reiner’s daughter and granddaughter, will come back and kill one of them.

Reiner’s daughter, Erin Flanagan, said in her statement that she always made McIntyre feel welcome in her home and told him, “I will never understand why you did or why you waited so long to plead guilty.”

Howe’s brother, John Gilmour, said in his statement he would miss his “very beautiful and loving sister” who had been shot in her own bathroom. He called McIntyre “pathetic” before putting in parentheses that the victim impact statement format “does not permit me to express the utter contempt and disdain I have for the murderer.”

Howe’s sister’s statement said Howe was devoted to her family and described how she would hold her infant granddaughter while singing and swaying in her kitchen.

Howe’s daughter thanked the court for allowing her to express the pain of her mother’s death “as well as the difficulties surrounding how everything was handled.”

Creamer’s children also submitted statements, with son Adam saying he misses his “mentor, confidant, best friend and greatest supporter” and daughter Taylor saying she was “beyond heartbroken” that her dad was stolen from them in a “sudden hateful and violent way.”

The coroner’s service has not publicly commented on either of the two deaths and in November said it’s waiting completion of investigations and reports. A spokeswoman at the time wouldn’t say if the conduct of the coroner would be included in the investigations, neither would she say whether the reports would be released.

On Wednesday, Coroner’s Service spokeswoman Holly Tally said Chief Coroner Dr. Jatinder Baidwan wasn’t available to comment on the handling of the deaths because the investigations are still open.

Postmedia attended the sentencing hearing online.

slazaruk@postmedia.com