Police delayed acting on slay suspect tip

MERRITT, British Columbia, April 14 (UPI) -- A media report on the sighting of a triple homicide suspect in British Columbia led the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to admit making a mistake.

A spokeswoman for the RCMP said she didn't know why it took three days to follow up on a reported sighting of Allan Schoenborn, who has been sought in the stabbing deaths of his three children. The bodies were found April 6 by their mother in the family's mobile home in Merritt.

On Wednesday, two women who work in a store in the village of Cherryville, more than 130 miles from Merritt, called the RCMP to say a man matching Schoenborn's description had been in their store that day, the Globe and Mail reported.

The women told CTV News the police didn't contact them until Saturday night, soon after the network aired a news story about how their tip had been ignored.

RCMP Constable Annie Linteau told the Globe and Mail it wasn't immediately clear why the major crimes unit hadn't been advised.

Police said they suspected Shoenborn headed for the dense forests in central British Columbia with his dog, the report said.