GUILTY Canada - Serena Vermeersch, 17, found murdered, Surrey, BC, 15 Sept 2014 *Arrest*

Serena Vermeersch boarded a transit bus around 8 p.m. on Monday at the corner of 64th Avenue and 128th Street. Vermeersch's mother reported her missing when she couldn't reach the teen on her phone. Her disappearance was "out of character" and she had never gone missing before, said police.

Search and rescue members tracking Vermeersch's regular route home discovered her body on Tuesday evening in a dense brush area in the 14600 block of 66th Avenue.

"The evidence to date supports that Serena was murdered," said Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team at a news conference on Thursday.

Click to expand...

Investigators are looking to speak to anyone that may have been on the bus that Serena took and saw her or would have seen her disembark the bus.

Police are also hoping to speak to a man seen on the railroad tracks at 66th Avenue and Hyland Road between 5:00 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. He was seen departing in a grey silver Dodge full size 3/4-ton truck with a canopy and roof rack attached. This vehicle departed westbound on 66th Avenue, made a U-turn at Uplands Road and proceeded eastbound on 66th towards 148 Street.

The man, described as wearing dark clothing, was witnessed walking across the tracks northbound and getting into his vehicle less than an hour before Serena’s body was located.

Click to expand...

Homicide detectives investigating the apparent random murder of Serena Vermeersch are no longer looking for a vehicle of interest...

It is not clear whether they have located the truck or decided it is not connected to her murder.

Click to expand...

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and the Surrey RCMP say they will be releasing more details at a joint news conference Monday.

Click to expand...

A high-risk sex offender has been charged in the slaying of Surrey teen Serena Vermeersch.

Raymond Lee Caissie, 43, was the subject of a BC Corrections warning in June, 2013, which spurred the following comment from Surrey mayor Dianne Watts: “It seems to me they know he’s going to reoffend. Why on earth would you let him free?” At the time of the warning, Caissie was living in Surrey...

Caissie was released from prison last year after serving 22 years for rape, robbery and forcible confinement that was committed in Abbotsford... The June, 2013, BC Corrections warning stated Caissie “has maintained a varied pattern of offending, having offended both violently and sexually, in both an opportunistic and impulsive manner.”

Click to expand...

The suspect arrested in the homicide of 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch of Surrey has been charged with second-degree murder, Metro Vancouver's Integrated Homicide Team announced at a news conference Monday...

The accused is set to make a court appearance today. Police said the suspect was arrested Saturday in Vancouver.

Click to expand...

In 1992, Caissie was sentenced to 21 years in jail for the rape, forcible confinement, and robbery of a 24-year-old woman who was working alone at the Matsqui museum. He forced her into her own car and made her withdraw cash from her bank machine before taking her to a remote spot over the U.S. border, where he forced her to perform oral sex, then left her tied to a tree.

He fled the scene in the woman's car.

Two teenagers from a nearby farm looking for a missing calf eventually found the young woman, a University of Victoria student.

Click to expand...

dotr said:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-worst-criminals-shouldn-t-be-freed-1.2775080

" Updated
Serena Vermeersch slaying: Peter MacKay says worst criminals shouldn't be freed
Justice minister says parole reforms on way; Surrey mayor says accused should never have been released"

Click to expand...

The National Parole Board determined the convicted rapist accused of killing a 17-year-old Surrey student last week was a high risk to reoffend because of intense aggression and prison violence, according to documents obtained by CTV News.

Though Raymond Caissie did attempt prison programs, they failed to make an impact on his history marred with drug use, fights with inmates, and even a plot to take money in exchange for assaulting a prison guard, the documents say...

The Parole Board held that Caissie was dangerous enough to be held until the end of his 22-year sentence -- the maximum length he could be held. But upon his release Crown prosecutors didn’t ask for the maximum measures to keep tabs on him through his section 810 order, which provides conditions that some offenders must abide by. Crown spokesperson Neil MacKenzie confirmed that government lawyers didn’t ask for electronic monitoring or a curfew.

Click to expand...

The man charged with killing a 17-year-old in Surrey in the fall of 2014 has been ordered by a B.C. Provincial Court judge to stand trial for the murder.

Click to expand...

Raymond Caissie, 43, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a New Westminster courtroom Thursday for killing 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch.

Caissie will next be in court on Sept. 21 for a sentencing hearing.

Click to expand...

In a victim impact statement, Vermeersch's mother said: "I don't feel anything for him ... he is dead to me in my mind."

The teen's sister wrote that, three years after the murder, "I'm still scared to go out at night. I don't see that ever changing."

With an automatic life sentence for the second-degree murder charge, Crown and defence are both recommending parole ineligibility of 17-years.

The judge reserved his sentencing decision until Oct. 20.

Click to expand...

Raymond Caissie has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 17 years for killing Surrey teen Serena Vermeersch in 2014.

Click to expand...

In the early '90s, Caissie was convicted of the violent kidnapping and sexual assault of an Abbotsford woman.

He served his entire 22-year prison sentence and near the end was denied parole eight times.

At one point, Caissie, himself, said he wanted to remain incarcerated several more years because he feared he might reoffend.

Surrey RCMP issued a warning at the time of his release, saying he "has maintained a varied pattern of offending, having offended both violently and sexually, in both an opportunistic and impulsive manner."

That was in 2013. Eighteen months later, Vermeersch was discovered dead.

"The tragedy obviously should have been avoided — but it wasn't," said Wally Oppal, a former judge and a former B.C.;attorney general.

Click to expand...