The sister of a man convicted of killing a young Maple Ridge mother in 2001 was arrested Friday for helping her brother escape.
Sandra Lynn Myshak, 47, of Edmonton faces seven criminal charges, including assisting a person in escaping custody, aiding in a kidnapping with a firearm, robbery with a firearm and breaking into a home to commit an indictable offence.
Her brother – William Wade Bicknell, 42 – escaped from custody last week (March 10) by taking a guard hostage during an escorted temporary absence from the Drumheller Correctional Institution, where he was serving a prison term for second-degree murder.
Bicknell visited his sister while he was on the escorted absence.
With the guard as a hostage, police allege he stole several firearms and an quantity of ammunition.
Bicknell then drove to a home in a rural area of Chipman, northeast of Edmonton, and forced his way inside.
Police say Bicknell knows the homeowner, and took the man’s 2009 Grey Chevrolet Impala with Alberta licence plates CXE – 602.
Bicknell’s whereabouts are presently unknown and police consider him to be armed and dangerous.
RCMP Sgt. Tim Taniguchi said investigators have not received many tips about Bicknell’s whereabouts.
“The tips have been minimal and the tips we have received have not resulted in the location of Bicknell,” he added.
Bicknell was found guilty of brutally murdering Angela Steer and sentenced to life without parole for 25 years in 2003.
Steer’s beaten body was found on the side of a road in Mission.
Steer, 37, worked as a cook at Paliotti’s, a local Italian restaurant. Years before, she operated Angie’s Grill at the Haney Hotel.
Bicknell confessed to her murder in an undercover police operation where officers pretended they were recruiting him into an organized crime gang.
On those tapes he explained how he struck Steer in the head with a baseball bat, then drove to Chilliwack and back with her body in garbage bags before dumping it.
Bicknell also claimed that she hit him first and threatened to tell police about his alleged involvement in marijuana grow operations and a debit-card scam.
Wanted
Bicknell, 42, is 6-6 and weighs 402 pounds.
He has brown hair and hazel eyes with a fair complexion. He has several tattoos, including full sleeves on both arms, a unicorn on his left shoulder, a cobra on his left arm, and a heart on his chest.
• Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Bicknell is asked to contact the Fort Saskatchewan RCMP at 780-992-6100 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
