The Johnson and Bentley Family Murders

5/28/202649 min

In August 1982, David William Shearing murdered six members of the Johnson and Bentley families while they were on a camping trip near Wells Gray Provincial Park in British Columbia. George and Edith Bentley, their daughter Jackie Johnson, her husband Bob Johnson, and the couple’s two young daughters Janet, thirteen, and Karen, eleven, were killed in one of the most disturbing crimes in Canadian history. Shearing pleaded guilty in 1984 to six counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for twenty-five years. In 1994 he legally changed his name to David Ennis.

He has applied for parole multiple times. He has never been released. And now, in 2026, he has waived his right to an in-person hearing — meaning the surviving family will not be permitted to attend, speak, or read their victim impact statements when his next application is reviewed this August.

In this episode of True North True Crime, we speak with Shelley Bowden, niece of Bob and Jackie Johnson, about the murders, the decades-long fight to keep Shearing behind bars, and what the family is facing now. We also cover the investigation, the confession, the trial, and the parole hearings that have forced the family to relive this crime again and again for nearly twenty years.

To sign the petition to keep David Shearing incarcerated, visit: https://www.change.org/p/deny-parole-in-2026-for-convicted-mass-murderer-david-ennis-aka-david-shearing

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Music Composed by: Sayer Roberts - https://soundcloud.com/user-135673977 // shorturl.at/mFPZ0

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Clips

“He Has To Be Dead”

Parole Hearings Punish Us Too

Inside The Parole Room

The Call To The Office

Trauma Across Generations

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

Kaitlin· Host0:00
This podcast contains graphic content that may not be suitable for all listeners. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Shelley Bowden· Guest0:07
We were all first notified, um, I guess it got leaked, and it was in the radio, the media, the, it was leaked out in the media. And, uh, when they were found, I was called. I was in high school, and I was called down to the principal's office. I never get called down to the principal's office. Um, but anyway, I got called down, and I went there, and he told me that m- my girlfriend's mother phoned and said that the, they, "Your cousins were found." And so I went. I didn't believe it, and I started to cry, and I ran home. I phoned my parents, who at that ti- at that time, they were up in, um, West Bank, y- you know, trying to help find where, you know, you know, trying to figure out where they would go and where they are, about whereabouts they are by map, trying to go and do a search party. I, I phoned my parents, and they told me, "Don't know. It's not confirmed yet 'cause we haven't heard from the police." And they said that, um, "We're not sure if it's them that might be murdered. We don't know. Go back to school. Call me back at 3:00, and I'll have an answer." So I come home from school, and at 3:00 in the afternoon, my

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