A date for the preliminary hearing in the case of Reuben Buhler – the man arrested in relation to a triple homicide in Burns Lake – has been set.
The preliminary hearing is set to start on April 24, 2017 and run until May 4, 2017 in the Burns Lake Provincial Court.
The preliminary hearing’s date had been postponed several times since 2015 due to a change in defence counsel and ongoing disclosure by the Crown of the evidence gathered by investigators in the case.
Allana Watson, sister-in-law of one of the three people killed, is planning on coming to Burns Lake from Kamloops to attend the hearing. However, she said she’s not convinced that the preliminary hearing will take place on the scheduled date since it’s already been postponed several times.
“They’ve already delayed it several times for different things,” she said. “Who knows what will happen.”
The preliminary hearing is for the court to decide if there is enough evidence to convict the accused.
Although Watson said the hearing will likley be hard to watch, she said it’s a step in the right direction.
“We are one step closer to closure, if one can ever get closure when your love one is murdered,” she said. “You’ve got a lot of people there that have a lot of pain, so it’s going to be a hard time for everyone.”
During the hearing, Crown counsel will present their evidence to a provincial court judge. The defence counsel will then have an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses.
If the judge decides there is sufficient evidence, the judge will order that a trial be held; if there is not enough evidence, the charges against the accused will be dismissed.
On April 27, 2015, at 8:25 a.m., the Burns Lake RCMP attended a residence in the 200 block of Fifth Avenue in Burns Lake after receiving a report of potential foul play. Neighbours said they heard gun shots ring out earlier that morning. When officers entered the residence, they found three people – one woman and two men – dead inside.
Watson’s brother-in-law, Mitchel Wade Ruttan, was one of the men found dead. Watson said that, on the night prior to the murder, Ruttan and the other two individuals were having a barbecue and watching the finals of a hockey game.
She said Ruttan had been communicating back and forth with his wife via text message since his wife was in a different house.
“If there was a fight going on, his wife would’ve known because they were all talking,” said Watson. “It was very unexpected.”
“Nobody communicated about an incident happening,” she continued. “6:04 a.m. is when all contact stopped between Mitchel and his wife.”
“Nobody had a chance,” she added. “Not one of them had a chance to call 911; I was absolutely devastated.”
In April 2016, the Crown changed to the charges against Buhler, from second to first-degree murder against all three victims.
