Jacob and Clara Forman in family photos posted to Facebook.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK

KELOWNA - The day Jacob Forman was arrested for the murder of his wife and two young daughters, RCMP didn’t suspect him of a crime, the court heard during day two of a voir dire aimed at assessing the admissibility of evidence for his Nov. 4 murder trial. 

UPDATE: FORMAN PLEADED GUILTY SEPT. 5

Const. Marshall Slarks told the court today, Sept. 4, he was sent to the Forman family's Rutland home Dec. 19, 2017, to investigate a missing persons report prompted by a call from a friend of Clara Forman, Jacob’s wife and mother to their two daughters Yesenia and Karina.

When they questioned Forman on the whereabouts of his wife and children, he told the officers in his home Clara had threatened to leave him days earlier but he didn’t believe her. He had gone to work that morning and upon his return, she was gone.

It didn’t take long, however, for the investigation that started that day to change direction.

Answering questions from defence lawyer Ray Dieno, Slarks said that the house was disorderly and chaotic, with some rooms being more organized than others. 

When he made his way through the house to the master bedroom, Slarks told the court he noticed several empty long-gun cases.

There was no evidence of Clara and the girls at that point.

When he went back into the area where everyone else had gathered, Slarks said Forman offered entry to the crawl space located in the laundry room. He directed them to the space, and after a search, nothing was found.  

Forman was then asked for keys to the garage and he slowed down.

“It looked like he was wandering around aimlessly. He checked his jacket and the living room as if he couldn’t find them or did not know where they were,” Slarks said.

Eventually, Forman found the keys and an officer went to the garage as Slarks took a statement.

Minutes later, at 7:01 p.m., the conversation on Clara’s whereabouts was cut short and the RCMP officer who had been in the garage told Forman he was under arrest for murder. One body had been found.

Forman was asked to raise his hands and was put in handcuffs while his Charter rights were read.   

He was escorted from his home and was standing with Slarks by the cruiser when another RCMP officer approached. That's when Slarks learned two more bodies were found.

Forman was taken to the RCMP station and at about 7:30 p.m. he had a lawyer.

Forman’s current lawyer, Dieno, asked Slarks a number of questions today that were seemingly aimed at sussing out whether the RCMP over-stepped their boundaries in those early interactions. He asked why they took a statement upon entry to the home, particularly given that Forman wasn’t suspected of a crime.  

“I told him I’d like a statement because we were looking for his family, to find out last known location,” said Slarks.

Later, he said, that the statement had not ended when the situation changed and Forman was being read his Charter rights. 

It’s been nearly two years since the alleged crime took place and Forman pleaded not guilty yesterday to the charge of second degree murder and the two charges of first degree murder.

“I’m responsible, but I’m not guilty,” said Forman, each time, sniffling.

Justice Allan Betton told the clerk to enter the plea of not guilty at the end of each statement.

According to information on the charges, the murders are alleged to have happened some time between Dec. 17 and Dec. 21, 2017, in the Bolotzky Court home in Rutland where the family lived and was found.

Clara Forman was originally from Mexico and worked at GoodLife Fitness. She wrote on Facebook that she met Forman 12 years before her death.

“Met in January, started dating in July, engaged Oct. 27 married three weeks later on Nov. 11 at sunset. When I married Jacob Forman I left everything I knew to come to Canada and build a life,” she wrote in a Facebook post, Nov. 11, 2015.

“God blessed our feeble efforts with good jobs, good friends, a great church family and most importantly, two of the best little humans a couple of people could ask for. Ten years later you are still the person I want to grow old with.”

Forman has no previous criminal record in B.C.

A plumber, he was raised in Quesnel and social media indicates he lived in Vernon.

Forman has elected trial by judge alone.

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