Special to the Langley Advance
A British Columbia man who police believe confessed to killing his family in a Facebook post shot them 10 days before taking his own life, say new reports.
Police found Janzen’s sister dead in her own home in Langley on May 7, having been shot twice in the head two days earlier.
B.C.’s coroners’ service released four reports on Tuesday that provide a timeline of events surrounding the 2015 deaths, which culminated in a fierce house fire in Chilliwack.
Police say Randy Janzen, 50, confessed to the killings in a Facebook post on May 7, 2015, that said he could no longer bear to see his teenage daughter suffer from severe migraines and that his wife and sister should not have to live with the shame he has caused.
The coroner’s reports used post-mortem findings and circumstantial evidence from Janzen’s social-media message to declare that he killed his daughter Emily Janzen, 19, and wife Laurel Janzen, 56, on April 28 last year.
“(Emily) Janzen had a past medical history which was significant for chronic migraines,” read a coroner’s report.
“These migraines were cited by her father as a potential source of significant psycho-social stress for both Ms. Janzen and her father.”
Janzen wrote on Facebook about the daily pain and depression Emily suffered as a result of her relentless headaches.
“Her migraines have escalated to excruciating again and I just could not see my little girl hurt for one more second,” the post read.
“I took a gun and shot her in the head and now she is migraine free and floating in the clouds on a sunny afternoon, her long beautiful brown hair flowing in the breeze, a true angel.”
Janzen killed himself 10 days after shooting his wife and daughter, concluded a separate coroner’s report.
His body was found in a bed with “the charred remains of a long-barrel gun resting between the legs,” read the document.
He was not known to have harboured any homicidal or suicidal tendencies and wasn’t visiting a psychiatrist at the time of his death, the report added.
“Over the last 10 days I have done some of the worst things I could have ever imagined a person doing,” said Janzen’s Facebook post.
“Now my family is pain free and in heaven. … So sorry to anyone I have hurt. Rest in peace my little family.”
Reports about the Facebook post brought police to a Chilliwack home where a four-hour standoff ensued. Police said a man matching Janzen’s description was seen inside the house.
The home then caught fire and was engulfed in flames, driving away officers who attempted to enter the building to rescue anyone remaining inside.
The fire was so severe that it would be three days before a disaster-response unit could enter the structure and retrieve the bodies.
– Canadian Press