Skeena Valley News
Published 10:02 am Tuesday, May 12, 2026John Kavaloff, 58, and Valerie Smith, 67, of Chilliwack were the victims of a double homicide on Sept. 14, 2023.
Family members of a Chilliwack couple killed at home read their victim impact statements in a courtroom on Monday . John Kavaloff, 58, and Valerie Smith, 67, were shot by their neighbour, Robert Freeman, in Baker Trails trailer park in Chilliwack River Valley on Sept. 13, 2023. Freeman, now 86, pleaded guilty last week to the second degree murder of Kavaloff and to a lesser charge of manslaughter of Smith.
Their daughter-in-law, Joy Finnegan, read the first of seven statements. She spoke about their tight-knit family including her husband Travis and their two young sons, and their daily connections to Kavaloff and Smith over the course of about 10 years.
“Our lives were deeply intertwined with theirs,” she said. “We spent holidays together, every birthday together, dinners together and countless ordinary days together. ” She said that Kavaloff and Smith were a “constant source of comfort love and safety in their lives” to their grandsons, who were eight and 11 when the couple was killed. Finnegan also attempted to speak directly to Freeman, who was in the courtroom, to remind him of the friendships that they all shared.
Freeman’s wife had once painted an image of the couple’s beloved dog, Suzie, onto a rock, she said. Freeman’s wife died a few years before the killing, court heard, and in the time since then, the couple and their children and grandchildren would take plates of food to Freeman.
“We truly believed there was a neighbour relationship build on familiarity… and trust,” she said, something that made this “heartache and betrayal” more difficult to process. Finnegan also spoke about her children’s rare blood disorder, and how Smith would step in any time extra help was needed. Kavaloff had quit smoking and Smith was planning to, as they hoped to have a long time to all be together as a family.
“John and Valerie made life seem safer and more manageable,” she said, adding that Freeman “took away part of the foundation holding our family together. ”“The evening everything happened shattered our world forever,” she said, recalling how difficult it was to tell their sons.
“One of the hardest things we ever had to do was pick up our children from school and tell them their grandma and grandpa had been murdered,” she said. Finnegan also read her husband’s statement for him.
“For nearly 1,000 days, my wife and I have carried an overwhelming grief,” he wrote. “I carry deep sadness, heartbreak and anger over what has happened to them. They did not deserve this… I ask the court to consider the profound and lasting effect this has had on all of us when determining the sentence. ”There were delays throughout the day in court, led by Freeman.
The sentencing hearing was to start at 10 a.m., but Freeman’s counsel, Martin Finch, said “developments occurred since court’s last sitting… which has engaged a number of conversations with Mr. Freeman. There are issues that relate to the manner in which we are intending to proceed.
” That was pushed to 11 a.m., and then to 2 p.m., and finally to about 2:45 p.m. Because of the delays, only a portion of the hearing was able to take place on Monday. After some discussions, it was decided that the hearing would continue on Friday, May 15. At the 10 a.m. sitting, Justice Andrea Ormiston had insisted to Freeman’s counsel that the victims’ families would be able to give their impact statements that day.
“There are people here prepared to proceed,” she said, adding that there was “importance” to having the proceeding take place. The family members were in court, with their support system, she added. Freeman’s counsel had requested the May 11 court date, after he unexpectedly pleaded guilty on what was to be the first day of a jury trial, on May 4.
Also read into court on Monday was some of the evidence that Crown prosecutors were prepared to share in that trial, including photographs and some of the statements Freeman made to RCMP. They described Freeman’s action as “a series of impulsive decisions made in anger that led to an escalation in a disproportionate response. ” They said he told police that he took a gun over to the neighbour’s house because of noise from a motorcycle.
He hadn’t intended to shoot Smith, and he hadn’t intended to kill Kavaloff, court heard. He expressed “consistent surprise” that Smith had died from her injuries, which is partly what led to the lesser charge of manslaughter in her death. There is still more evidence to be presented to court before Ormiston rules on Freeman’s sentencing. He had been free on bail since the killings, and taken into custody after his May 4 appearance.
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