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Suspect in double-homicide near Chilliwack released from jail

Robert Amede Freeman had been at Surrey Pretrial Services Centre since being arrested Sept. 13
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The man accused of killing two people in a strata trailer park on Chilliwack Lake Road on Sept. 13 is being released from jail.

Robert Amede Freeman appeared by video at the Chilliwack Law Courts Thursday (Sept. 21) for a bail hearing before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kate Ker. Details from the hearing can’t be revealed due to a publication ban and fears that those details may influence a future judge or jury, but the 83-year-old is being let out of Surrey Pretrial Services Centre with a number of conditions.

A police news release described the double homicide that ended the lives of John Kavaloff, 58, and Valerie Smith, 67, as an isolated incident between neighbours. The RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) release the victims’ names Sept. 15 “in hopes of advancing the investigation,” and asked anyone with info to call the IHIT info line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or email ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.

RELATED: Double-homicide near Chilliwack called ‘isolated incident between neighbours’

Freeman has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder. He is due in court Monday (Sept. 25) to fix a date for a future appearance.

- The murder suspect Robert Freeman named in this investigation bears the same name, but is believed to be no relation to former Chilliwack Progress reporter Robert Freeman, who died in 2019 in Ontario.



Eric Welsh

About the Author: Eric Welsh

I joined the Chilliwack Progress in 2007, originally hired as a sports reporter.
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