RCMP and BC Coroners Service investigators continued to gather evidence Wednesday in a remote Whiskey Creek gravel pit where three dead bodies and a badly injured man were found Sunday.
Sources have offered CHEK News a clearer picture of who lived there and what may have motivated the attack.
Sources tell CHEK News that Shawn McGrath was one of those killed. The Parksville man had been living in an RV in the gravel pit with his longtime girlfriend Shanda Wilson since the summer. According to several sources, his body was found with a second body in one of two torched RVs at the scene and outreach workers say Shanda Wilson is now missing and feared to be one of the three people killed.
Fifty-two-year-old Shawn McGrath has a lengthy criminal record dating back decades, and homeless individuals tell CHEK News he was feared on the streets. Court records show that he was facing a drug trafficking charge that was slated to go to trial in the spring. Wilson was his co-accused and recently plead out to the charges against her.
In a tragic connection 22-year-old Parksville woman, Keana Hugh who was killed while walking on Highway 19A on Oct. 10 was friends with both Shawn McGrath and his girlfriend and was known to visit camps in the area. That incident is still being investigated by RCMP.
Those who knew McGrath tell CHEK News that they weren’t surprised to hear McGrath that was targeted.
“Sometimes we reap what we sow,” said outreach and peer support Worker Kelly Morris.
“Sometimes we do things in our addiction that we’re not proud of and consequences are that people have had enough and this is what happens. Shawn wasn’t what you call a role model of trying to get help. He actually was going the opposite direction and retaliating.”
A fourth person is recovering in hospital from a gunshot wound. His family told CHEK News that they are now afraid for his safety.
RCMP expect to be at the scene gathering evidence through at least Thursday.
Skye Ryan
