Banff killer gets full parole
Man who killed cabbie warned after visiting strip club
The man convicted of stabbing a young Banff cabbie to death decades ago is being granted full parole.
But Ryan Jason Love has already been given a warning after just two months on day parole in B.C. after coming out of a stripper bar with a friend who had been drinking.
Love has strict conditions to avoid drugs and alcohol.
Love, 41, was 18 when he stabbed 23-year-old cabbie Lucie Turmel to death for her night’s earnings on May 17, 1990.
He stole less than $130 and hid from police. He was charged with second-degree murder after undercover officers befriended him a year and a half after the killing.
Turmel’s brother says news that his sister’s killer is finally moving ahead is unsettling.
“It’s not good news, but it’s not bad news,” said Louis Turmel from Quebec. “It’s kind of behind us.”
Turmel says his family is thankful for the restrictions the board has ordered. But beyond that, Love has served his time.
“What can we do? They say they’ve done what they needed to.”
Love was sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 20 years.
Love earned day parole last September with conditions to avoid drugs and alcohol.
But within two months, his friend was pulled over by police for a breathalyzer after the pair left a strip club, according to the Parole Board of Canada.
There is no mention in parole documents if Love admitted he had also been drinking.
The driver received a warning from police, and Love distanced himself from the friend afterward, the parole board says.
Drugs and alcohol fuelled Love’s brutal rage the night he stabbed Turmel.
He has been abstinent from substances since 2005, the board wrote.
“Maintaining your sobriety is a key risk management strategy,” the board wrote.
Love’s full parole begins in November. He is rated a low risk to reoffend violently, the board wrote.
He is aware of his risk factors and has support from his family in Duncan, B.C. “You remain motivated to succeed in the community,” the parole board says.
For all the strides Love is said to be making, his lack of understanding motives for the killing is troubling.
“The rage indicated by the trauma to the body of the victim and the efforts you made to conceal your involvement may suggest deeper rooted issues that defy explanation,” the board wrote after the Aug. 24 hearing in B.C.
A psychiatrist recommended Love be monitored closely, and psychotherapy be a lifelong endeavour.
A recent psychological assessment raised concerns about whether Love’s “true character and personality will ever be known because there is nothing in your community or prison history that can explain the brutality and prolonged nature of the offence.”
Love has been performing odd jobs while seeking a full-time job, the parole board said.
He plans to rent his own apartment.
He enjoys swimming and bowling. Love, who performed, wrote and directed plays while serving time in William Head Institution, also attends the theatre, the report said.
Love made headlines across the country in 2000 after say- ing “I’m having the time of my life here,” performing with the prison theatre troupe.
During Love’s day parole hearing last year, he told the panel: “I am a good person who’s done a very, very bad thing. That can never happen again. That will never happen again.”
The violent murder rocked Banff — an international resort destination that sees mostly petty crime.
Love had been working as a housekeeper at the Banff Springs Hotel, but spent all his earnings due to “10 months of unhinged drinking,” he said.
On May 17, 1990, he flagged a taxi, intending to rob the driver. He wanted to use the money to impress his family at a reunion, he told the parole board in 2011.
He directed Turmel to a dark, quiet street and pulled out a hunting knife.
He stabbed Turmel 17 times in the face and neck. She bled to death on the street as Love jumped into the cab and drove off.
A massive police investigation zeroed in on Love after 5,000 tourists and service resort town workers were interviewed.
One of Love’s roommates recognized the hunting knife police recovered after the killing.
A year and a half after the killing, undercover police surreptitiously collected a DNA sample from Love, who had refused to offer one once police learned the murder weapon they had found was his.
A mucus-filled tissue was scooped by detectives posing as robbers who gave Love a job as lookout man.
During his bid for day parole last year, Love finally spoke publicly about the killing and spending half his life in prison.
“Prison hasn’t been easy. It’s been a long 19 years, but any hardships I’ve had have been nothing compared to my family’s and the Turmel family. … The entire town of Banff was hurt. I won’t hurt again,” Love said in August 2011.
His level of brutality during the murder was “uncharacteristic,” he said.
Other conditions of Love’s parole include mandatory psychological counselling and abstaining from drugs and alcohol. He is forbidden from contacting the victim’s family.