Where is Douglas Spiers?
OPP say he’s wanted for parole breach, after family reported him missing
The provincial repeat offender parole enforcement (ROPE) squad is searching for a convicted killer who was reported as missing by family earlier this week, but is now accused of breaching his parole.
Douglas Spiers — formerly known as Douglas Stokes — is serving a life sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder for the 2001 beating and stabbing death of Murray Parrott, 55, of Milton. He served 12 years before being eligible for parole in 2013.
Spiers’ sister Jessie Stokes, who lives in British Columbia, says her brother Doug was last seen Sunday and has been reported missing in Niagara.
“For 10 years he has been an upstanding and contributing member of society and is loved,” she said about her brother, adding that he wouldn’t leave his kids. She believes he is a very low risk to reoffend. “He isn’t a monster,” she added. OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Steve Sermet, of the ROPE squad, confirmed that Spiers was reported missing by family in Niagara Sunday. However, he said police now believe he is not missing, but is breaching parole. A warrant for his arrest was issued March 7.
He was last seen in Toronto, near Union Station, he said.
Spiers is known to frequent Hamilton, Welland, Dunnville, St. Catharines and Toronto. He also has ties to Vancouver, police said.
He is described as a Caucasian man, 40, five-foot-10 and 163 pounds, with balding, brown hair and hazel eyes. He typically has facial hair and wears glasses, and has a tattoo of a cross on his upper right arm.
In 2004, Spiers, then called Douglas Stokes, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Parrott. Court heart that Parrott encountered a then-19-year-old Stokes while walking home from his favourite Main Street bar in Milton early on Aug. 31, 2001.
Stokes testified that Parrot pulled out a knife and lunged at him, but Stokes managed to knock the weapon out of his hand before stabbing him. Parrot was stabbed in the throat with his own knife and beaten.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Spiers is asked to call the provincial ROPE squad at 1-866-870-7673 or call 911. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.