Man who killed family in 1991 gets full parole
An Alberta man who murdered his family when he was 15 years old has been granted full parole.
Gavin Joseph Mandin, who now goes by the name Gavin Ian Maclean, killed his stepfather, mother and two sisters. The murders remain unexplained.
In police interviews after his arrest, Mandin, who was previously granted day parole Oct. 31, 2012, said the murders were due to anger built up at his parents over many years and his annoyance at having to do chores.
Mandin has never been able to explain why he also killed his sisters and, in his final parole hearing, he said that he was in such a rage he kept firing his weapon without really knowing why.
At the family’s vacation home in Valleyview in northwest Alberta in August 1991, Mandin fired shots from a .22-calibre rifle at each of his sisters from barely an inch away. After killing his stepfather, he tied the body to an ATV and dragged it into long grass and then cut open his dead mother’s dress and underwear, exposing her body.
Mandin pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a minimum of 10 years.
At the request of the victims’ families, Mandin is restricted from entering Alberta. He will also have to attend counselling once a month, avoid contact with the victims’ families and report any intimate relationships.
Mandin presents a low risk of reoffending and was evaluated as having high reintegration potential, the parole board said.
Since receiving day parole in 2012, Mandin has been working as a provider of remote IT support. His supervisor described him as a “fantastic employee with a great work ethic.” He has been living in a community residential facility, where he repeatedly won extended weekend passes to his own apartment. Mandin has an “active social life,” parole documents said.
The National Parole Board previously refused to comment on where Mandin is living and did not return a request Monday for comment. His parole reports come from Ontario.
Generally described as a model prisoner, Mandin drew media attention and the ire of officials at Bowden Institution, south of Red Deer, when pornography was found on a computer in his cell in 2001.
The parole board repeatedly expressed concern that since Mandin has never had a girlfriend, he might have trouble handling rejection by someone he has been intimate with.