The stepmother of a former Campbell River student says she is “relieved” that the alleged killers of her boy have been arrested and charged with first degree murder in Salmon Arm.
On Nov. 21, 2008 Tyler Myers, 22, was gunned down. His body was discovered by a passerby about 7:30 p.m. on a trail on the grounds of an elementary school in the Interior city. On Monday police arrested a 20-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, both under 18 years at the time of the murder. They cannot be named. Both are residents of Salmon Arm and both have been charged with first degree murder. The pair appeared briefly in Salmon Arm Court Tuesday. They were ordered to be held in custody until their next joint court appearance Nov. 20. Tyler’s stepmother, Campbell River resident Donna Linklater, says: “I’m relieved after all this time that someone is in custody.” Tyler lived with Linklater and his now-deceased father, Dusty, from age nine into his teens. He attended Pinecrest and Timberline schools.
“Tyler came to us as a young boy and we loved him to pieces. He is missed terribly,” Linklater says. She said Tyler had moved to Salmon Arm to work on pipeline construction. She would not comment about the motives for the shooting or the relationship between the accused and her stepson.
At a news conference at the Salmon Arm RCMP detachment Insp. Gary Shinkaruk of the Major Crime Section said the man had been arrested at his home in Salmon Arm while the woman was arrested in a public setting in Vernon – both without incident. Both were known to the deceased, he said. “Tyler Myers … did not deserve in any way to be murdered in 2008 or any time. By virtue of the first-degree murder charge we believe it was a planned and deliberate murder.”
