Fratricide accused stood to inherit
According to court documents, brothers Joseph George Thauberger and Dr. Patrick Cyril Thauberger were partners in a farming operation, with Joseph taking care of the business for both of them.
Such was the arrangement when, in September 1997, Patrick disappeared. The unsolved missing persons investigation eventually landed in the cold case unit of the Regina Police Service. This week, police announced a significant turn in the 23-year-old file, stating they'd charged Joseph with Patrick's murder.
According to court documents related to Patrick's estate — worth an estimated $520,235.16 — five siblings stood to inherit given he had no spouse or children. Among those siblings was Joseph, now 78.
In late 2014, the siblings applied to Regina Court of Queen's Bench under The Missing Persons and Presumption of Death Act to have their brother legally declared dead. In December 2014, Justice Ted Zarzeczny made the order, finding Patrick was presumed to have died on Sept. 3, 1997 — the last day anyone in his family reported to have seen him.
Such an order acts as proof of death, and it allowed his siblings to put Patrick's affairs in order given he'd died without leaving a will.
Court documents show the siblings were to pay down whatever amounts Patrick owed and divide the remainder equally. It wasn't clear within the publicly available portion of the documents how much was remaining after payments.
One sibling was appointed as administrator of Patrick's estate, and affidavits were submitted by the other four — Joseph among them — agreeing that “Joseph Thauberger be accountable for and operate the farm land and property owned by Patrick Thauberger.”
Joseph's affidavit contained a listing of land owned by himself and that owned by Patrick. In Patrick's case, 23 land descriptions within various areas were identified. According to Joseph's document, Patrick “authorized me to govern the use of this land and associated property throughout his ownership of same.”
He added that “given the proximity of the land owned by me and by Patrick, we operated with a very flexible partnership, blending revenues, expenses and labour costs.”
Joseph said he was and would continue to be “accountable for and operate the farm land and property owned by Patrick Thauberger.”
Joseph's defence lawyer Tony Merchant told the Leader-post on Thursday that a portion of the land was the family farm where the siblings had been raised. Merchant said it's his understanding the Thauberger kids were close.
“When the farm on which Joe and his six brothers and sisters had grown up became available for purchase, it got purchased ...,” he said. “Joe ran the farm and Patrick had two Phds and was working in the prison system (in Edmonton), and so he never worked on the farm.”
Merchant added Joseph also has two university degrees and has worked as both a teacher and educational psychologist.
As did the other siblings, Joseph stated in his affidavit he had not seen or heard from Patrick — a 53-year-old clinical psychologist from St. Albert, Alta. — since Sept. 3, 1997.
Patrick passed through Regina in August 1997, visiting family before going to the United States to auction off a pair of cars. He stopped back in Regina on Sept. 1, en route back to the Edmonton area.
In 2006, Joseph told the Edmonton Journal he dropped Patrick off at the Regina bus depot on Sept. 3 and went back to the farm.
“And that was that,” he said. Patrick never got on the bus. Joseph was due back in court on Thursday but his matter was adjourned to Monday without his making an appearance. Merchant said he is trying to set a bail hearing at Court of Queen's Bench but was dismayed to learn he couldn't get one on Tuesday as anticipated.
“It's unacceptable in particular because of Mr. Thauberger's age and health,” Merchant said.
Merchant previously told the court Joseph has a range of serious ailments that will put his life in jeopardy if forced to remain in custody.
Joseph — who faces charges of first-degree murder, offering an indignity to human remains and uttering threats — is currently being kept in isolation, Merchant said.