The Johnson and Bentley Family Murders

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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