December 1997

Dec. 12, 1997, evening, before 8 p.m.

• Randy Donohue, a family friend of the McNabs, spots a red, two-door sports car on the dead-end gravel road to Lorraine McNab’s house.

• When he approaches the vehicle to offer assistance, the driver turns his face away and speeds off in a southward direction, away from Pincher Creek.

• RCMP later say a witness sighting on this date has the car being “similar to a red or maroon 1973 Mercury Cougar.”

Dec. 13, 1997, around 10 p.m.

• Lorraine McNab and Peter Sopow are last seen alive, leaving her father and stepmother’s home in Twin Butte after a family dinner.

Dec. 13, 1997, between 10:30 p.m. and midnight

• Peter Sopow, then Lorraine McNab, are shot with a .22-calibre weapon.

Dec. 13, 1997, around midnight

• Lorraine McNab’s daughter, Lesley Marsh, arrives at Lorraine’s place.

• She goes inside the mobile home to gather some belongings, and assumes Lorraine and Peter are home sleeping because both their trucks are parked in the driveway.

• Except for Lorraine’s bedroom being open, Lesley does not notice anything unusual.

• She leaves the property when her boyfriend arrives to pick her up.

Dec. 14, 1997, 11:35 a.m.

• A grass fire in the area, later called the Granum Fire, is declared an emergency.

• Fire crews come from all over the region to contain the flames and evacuate the area of people and livestock.

• Ranchers in the area rush to assist neighbours in the fire zone northeast of Pincher Creek, which stretches to 32 kilometres in length. (See map below.)

Dec. 15, 1997

• McNab family members wonder about Lorraine’s whereabouts when she does not pick up her teenaged son from his dad’s place, but they are not alarmed yet because they assume she is helping neighbours or family members affected by the Granum fire.

• Peter Sopow’s co worker Jay Wiebe repeatedly calls Peter to arrange a ride to Edmonton for an RCMP meeting they have on Monday. After failing to reach him, Wiebe drives to Edmonton without Sopow.

Dec. 15, 1997, around 9 a.m.

• Coworkers of Lorraine McNab’s at Canyon Elementary School and Peter Sopow’s RCMP co-workers become concerned when they do not show up for work.

Dec. 15, 1997, mid-morning

• RCMP Supt. Lloyd Hickman, in the area investigating the Granum fire, dispatches Jim Semeschuk, a forensic unit RCMP member from Lethbridge, and Terry Angstadt, an officer from Pincher Creek, to check Lorraine McNab’s property.

Dec. 15, 1997, around 11:30 a.m.

• Jim Semeschuk discovers the bodies of Lorraine McNab and Peter Sopow inside the horse trailer on the property.

• Semeschuk tells Angstadt and Lorraine’s son Dave Marsh of his discovery.

• The property is now a crime scene.

• An RCMP canine unit arrives on the scene and the road to the property is barricaded to all but RCMP investigators.

Dec. 15, 1997, early afternoon

• Word spreads about the murders.

• Canyon School principal Jean Murray informs the students about Lorraine’s death.

• Lorraine’s kindergarten students are sent home from school and will not return until after Christmas.

Dec. 15, 1997 around 2 p.m.

• Two Calgary Major Crimes homicide investigation teams of four people each arrive in Pincher Creek.

• For the next week, investigators scour the property for evidence in gale-force winds, at times on their hands and knees.

Dec. 15 1997, late afternoon

• The horse trailer is enclosed in a tarp and transported, with the bodies in it, to an indoor location at a tow yard in Pincher Creek for further investigation.

Dec. 15, 1997

• The Granum fire is contained except for a forest fire still burning in the Porcupine Hills.

• The fire has burned five homes, killed over 200 head of cattle and displaced another 5,000.

• Large amounts of livestock feed and almost 1,000 kilometres of fencing are destroyed.

Between Dec. 16 and Dec. 19, 1997

• A suspect's rural acreage near the Crowsnest Pass, his car, and his home in Cowley are searched.

Dec. 17, 1997, afternoon and evening

• RCMP arrest and question the suspect.

• He is initially cooperative answering questions but RCMP Corporal Walter Coles tells the media: “Later in the evening the situation changed and became a suspect situation.”

Dec. 18, 1997, evening

• The suspect commits himself to the psychiatric unit at Lethbridge Hospital.

• The suspect is now in the custody of psychiatric professionals and police do not attempt to question him while he is a patient there.

The week of December 15, 1997

• RCMP investigators search the school in Lundbreck, where the suspect taught. Soon afterwards, school board officials remove him from his classroom. He never returns.

• RCMP investigators search the traps at the car wash in Lundbreck after receiving a tip that a red, two-door sports car was seen there on Sunday the 14th, the day after the murders and the day before the bodies were discovered.

Dec. 19, 1997

• The students at Canyon School dedicate their two public Christmas concerts to Lorraine McNab.

Dec. 20, 1997

• A regimental funeral is held for Sgt. Peter Sopow in Edmonton. More than 700 officers attend.

Dec. 22, 1997

• Lorraine McNab’s funeral takes place in Pincher Creek’s community hall. About 1,000 people attend.

• It's the largest funeral in the town’s history.

Dec. 29, 1997

• RCMP issue a press release saying they have received tips from the public about a red or maroon, two-door, older model car.