The Cherryville man who allegedly hid his son from police scrutiny after he became the lead suspect in a high profile murder investigation, is expected to plead guilty to related charges Wednesday morning.
Stephen Roy Foerster, 60, is scheduled to enter the guilty plea to charges of obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact, relating to the 2011 murder of Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest, said Crown counsel David Grabavac.
Sentencing recommendations for those charges will be heard in the Kelowna courtroom at that point as well.
It’s the final legal hurdle for the Van Diest family, who spent years awaiting the courts to address the 2011 murder of the teen.
“I’ll be there,” said Taylor’s mother Marie Van Diest, Monday morning.
“Wednesday will be a telling day. I probably won’t be somewhat satisfied until I find out what kind of sentence (he gets.)”
Matthew Foerster was convicted of first degree murder this April and will be in prison for a minimum of 25 years.
A jury found that he fatally beat Taylor Van Diest and left her to die on stretch of Armstrong train tracks Halloween night 2011.
He may have escaped unidentified, but the teen had scratched her assailant and his DNA was found under her fingernails. It was matched to the DNA in pre-existing assault complaint, from a Kelowna escort agency, and the victim of that alleged crime helped police with a composite sketch.
Some 1,250 tips from the public were gathered after the sketch was released, and numerous people pointed to the junior Foerster as a potential lead.
B.C. Mounties, assisted by their colleagues in Ontario as well as members of the Ontario Provincial Police, arrested Matthew Foerster five months later at a motel in Collingwood, Ont.
His father was arrested the same day at his Cherryville home.
Over the course of Matthew Foerster’s two week trial, it was revealed that he had a significant amount of cash on him when he was arrested at the Collingwood hotel, and there was reference to disposable mobile phones being used to contact him.
Once he was brought back to Kelowna cells, it was his half-brother and a sister who pleaded with him to be upfront about his role in the Van Diest murder.
Other than the charges, very little else has been revealed about the senior Foerster’s role.
