Rocky Frie, 25, had driven for Kelowna Cabs for fourteen months. Kelowna Cabs manager Mervin Kempthorne described him as "a quiet lad who did his job well." The company secretary-treasurer, Sherley Oshaway, called him "a friendly, pleasant, hardworking young man." On Thursday, November 12, 1987, Mr. Frie was dispatched to an address but found his fares waiting for him on the street. At 6:10 p.m. he radioed the dispatcher: "I found them. They were on the corner. I'm on my way to zone six. No, make that seven." "They were his last words," said Ms Oshaway. "We never heard from him again." Mr. Frie's fares were two men aged 34 and 23. The 34-year-old was a parolee who, in 1981, had confessed to the murder of Shirley Yablonsky in Abbotsford. Ms Yablonsky was a 40-year-old mother of three who worked as a clerk in a convenience store. She disappeared in August, 1979, and her remains were discovered six months later on a wooded hillside in Abbotsford. The man's confession was ruled inadmissable in court and in the absence of sufficient physical evidence he was acquitted. This same man shot Mr. Frie in the top of the head with a small-calibre handgun. He later told police he did it partly for the "thrill" and partly to impress his younger companion. The younger man then took the pistol and shot Mr. Frie two more times in the side of the head after which the pair dumped Mr. Frie's body behind the East Kelowna elementary school. The victim was discovered at about 8:15 the next morning by chldren who arrived on the early school bus. They told their teachers that a man was sleeping behind the school. About five hours later the cab was found abandoned in downtown Kelowna with Mr. Frie's empty wallet on the seat. Ms. Oshaway estimated that the driver would have carried a maximum of $120, including about $40 to start his shift and his Remembrance Day earnings from November 11 which he had not yet turned in. The two killers were arrested soon after the murder. In December, 1987, after a psychiatric examination, the 34-year-old was declared fit to stand trial. Both men were convicted of murder based on their statements to police and a fingerprint found in the cab. They were sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 20 years. At the beginning of his trial the younger man attempted to have his murder charge quashed on the grounds that Mr. Frie was already brain dead from the first bullet wound when he fired the other two shots into his head. [Next column]

Rocky Frie is buried in Lakeview Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Kelowna. (Source: Facebook: Lakeview Memorial Gardens Cemetery.) In a unanimous ruling the British Columbia Supreme Court rejected the use of brain death as a standard: "If the onus is on the Crown to satisfy this jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Frie was still alive — that is to say that his brain function had not yet irreversibly ceased — when the accused ... "pumped" two bullets into him, it can be seen that such an onus would be Impossible to discharge — unless someone had happened along with an EEG monitor and applied same to Mr. Frie either before or immediately after the two shots allegedly fired by the accused." The court ruled that the "traditional" test (that is, whether or not the victim's heart was still beating) would prevail. Evidence of bleeding from all three bullet wounds showed that Mr. Frie's heart was still beating when he was shot the second and third times. The court ruled that the judge's charge to the jury should allow them to weigh the medical evidence and decide whether or not the accused was guilty of murder. Mr. Frie was survived by his parents, four brothers and a sister. "Rocky was one of life's gentlemen," said Ms Oshaway. "He was so kind. Everyone liked him and his death has stirred up all kinds of emotions." Mr. Frie's funeral was held in his home town of Winfield, 18 kilometres from Kelowna. The funeral procession was joined by cabs from Kelowna flying black flags from their radio antennas.