Two inmates die in B.C. prisons within one week
Two violent criminals have died in British Columbia prisons in the past week, the Correctional Service of Canada confirmed. Daniel Robert Dow, 68, died on June 22 at Mission Institution, while Ralph Bernard Shaw, 65, died on June 24 at Pacific Institution and Regional Treatment Centre in Abbotsford. Both men were serving lengthy sentences for violent crimes.
Daniel Robert Dow: Repeat sex offender and murder suspect
Daniel Robert Dow was serving an indeterminate sentence that began in March 1998. He was convicted in 1998 for beating and choking a woman into unconsciousness and threatening to kill her child. Dow was also a suspect in the disappearance of 20-year-old Sherri McLaughlin, who went missing from Kamloops in 1993 at a time when Dow was on parole for a previous conviction. According to reports, Dow’s car was linked through forensics with McLaughlin’s damaged bicycle, but he was never charged in the case and McLaughlin’s body was never found.
Ralph Bernard Shaw: Yukon double murderer
Ralph Bernard Shaw was serving a life sentence that began in November 2024. In October 2021, Shaw shot and killed a man and a woman in Faro, Yukon, after what police called a domestic dispute. The shooting led to a local lockdown. Patrick McCracken, 73, and Saenduean Honchaiyaphum, 42, died in the shooting. Honchaiyaphum was married to Shaw but the couple had separated months earlier.
Correctional Service of Canada confirms deaths
The Correctional Service of Canada said the families of both inmates have been informed and the B.C. Coroners Service has been notified about the in-custody deaths. No further details have been released about the causes of death.
