John McKechnie
Vancouver, BC / May 19, 1992
On May 19, 1992 at approximately 11:45 p.m. John McKechnie, 38, was shot three times in the head, neck and torso with a 9mm pistol. Gunpowder burns on one of his eyeballs suggested that he saw his killer pull the trigger at least once.
The murder took place in McKechnie's cab outside a group of apartment buildings in the 2100 block of Prince Edward Street. A witness investigating the sound of gunshots saw two people running away from the scene towards one of the apartment buildings.
Police learned that a man had arrived at of the apartments soon after the shooting and confessed to having shot someone. With the help of female friends living in the apartment he had disguised himself as a woman and was driven from the scene.
The fugitive turned out to be a 21-year-old U.S. marine stationed at Whidbey Island in Washington State. In response to a Canadian extradition request a U.S. marshal arrested the man in New Orleans. Two Vancouver police officers subsequently interviewed him and escorted him back to Canada.
At his trial in 1994 one of the women living in the apartment block testified that the man had been upset when he entered the apartment and that he had placed a fifteen-minute phone call to his mother in Buffalo, N.Y. When asked what was wrong, he said "I think I might have shot somebody." After this admission was repeated in his presence to a second woman he said "The light shone on my face. I got scared and I fired."
When police cars were observed outside the apartment block the man asked the second woman to "Sit down. Pretend like we're girlfriend and boyfriend if the cops come to the door."
The second woman left the apartment shortly before two more women arrived. The killer then dressed in women's clothing and was driven to another apartment block.
On returning home one of the women found a gun in a fanny pack belonging to the killer. She dropped the gun in a trash bin outside a 7-Eleven store and it was never recovered. The killer later phoned to ask if the "stuff" was still in the bag and was told the gun had been thrown away. The killer left the second apartment the next morning dressed in woman's clothing and carrying his own clothing in a bag.
At his trial the killer denied any involvement in the murder and blamed it on another man, a U.S. sailor who was also stationed at Whidbey Island. He claimed to have driven to Vancouver with this man and to have used his car to visit the apartment building. He testified that the second man later showed up outside the apartment and confessed to killing McKechnie.
For his part, the second man claimed to have picked up the killer at the second apartment block. The killer was crying and told him, "I didn't mean to do it -- it was an accident -- I think he's dead -- I didn't mean to do it."
The killer was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 15 years. The defence appealed on the grounds that he had not been properly informed of his rights by the Vancouver police officers when he was picked up in New Orleans. The British Columbia Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal in 1996, but it was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada and a new trial ordered.
In 1999 the killer was once again found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 15 years.
McKechnie had quit driving cab for nine months after 14 years with Black Top Taxi, only to return to the job with Advance Cabs four days before his murder.
"John would give you the shirt off his back," said his wife of four years. "He was so supportive." She said she'd had a premonition that something bad would happen to her husband.
Mark McKechnie said his devout brother, who was six feet four inches tall, was often mistaken for a minister. "All through school, everybody called him the Gentle Giant," he said.
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