*Law and Order sound effect here.
UPDATE: during a routine check of his halfway house room, Smeltzer was caught with a “sexually explicit” DVD movie he purchased while he was first on day parole because he “liked the actress.”
It took a few years of freedom, the death of his mother and sister, and a public outing to crack Harold Smeltzer.
I first wrote about the release of convicted Calgary child killer and southwest neighbourhood rapist here, the result of nearly two years of sleuthing to find sources and unnamed victims of sex assault.
Giving them a voice was the goal. Their message was loud and clear: Harold Smeltzer is a dangerous man who should remain behind bars. For the record, he served his entire life sentence for first-degree murder and rape.
Day parole was another step towards freedom, however, convicted murderers are monitored for life.
Now, as we await details of what exactly prompted Smeltzer’s parole officer to take action on Friday, we have a few ideas of what may be going on.
As you can read below in my story today, the National Parole Board has already noted Smeltzer’s struggles on the outside. His requests for unescorted bus rides back to Prince Albert to visit friends were turned down. His attempts at privacy are clearly on someone’s radar.
He may have breached his conditions, which include steering clear of parks, playgrounds, basically anywhere there are children.
We also wonder if Smeltzer deliberately breached because he is struggling on the outside due to all the publicity of his release. He has never gained employment, and if you add that to his relatively low IQ, he’s not making great strides at self-sufficiency.
We will know more details officially Monday.
But who can wait? Tell what you know.
SHERRI ZICKEFOOSE
CALGARY HERALD
JAN. 7, 2012
A Calgary child killer and rapist is back behind bars after having day parole revoked.
Harold David Smeltzer was taken into custody by police in Regina Friday afternoon.
“His parole officer directed revocation of his day parole and a warrant for his arrest was issued,” said Regina Police Service Staff Sgt. Brent Ermel, adding Smeltzer is in custody at the Provincial Correctional Centre.
“I can’t tell you for long or what is going to happen with him next.”
Smeltzer is serving a life sentence for murdering his five-year-old Calgary neighbour, Kimberley Thompson, in 1980.
Evelyn Thompson, Kimberley’s mother, was alerted by Correctional Service of Canada officials following his arrest.
“I’m very happy with the news but I’m just afraid he’s hurt somebody else, and that’s a sad thing,” she said from her Vancouver Island home. “I hope it’s forever that he doesn’t go back outside.”
Several Calgary relatives were also grappling with the news Friday.
Ermel said Regina police were planning to release more information Monday.
Smeltzer was noted to have been struggling with restrictions placed on him, according to the National Parole Board’s report last summer.
Publicity about his past has led to anxiety and frustration because no one will hire him, the board wrote. The 55-year-old never found steady employment since being released to a halfway house in late 2008 after serving 28 years in prison in Saskatchewan. He was earning an allowance for custodial work at a community correctional centre.
Smeltzer had been given a cellphone by volunteers who work with high-risk, high-needs sex offenders.
Smeltzer was allowed to leave his halfway house unescorted, provided he stay away from children. Smeltzer is not allowed near parks, swimming pools, schools and other gathering places.
He must return to the halfway house nightly.
Smeltzer is a pedophile with an anti-social personality disorder, according to the parole board.
In January 1980, Smeltzer abducted Kimberley as she was walking to kindergarten on an Altadore street in Calgary. He said he intended to sexually assault her, but she recognized him, so he drowned her and stuffed her body into a garbage can.
Smeltzer has admitted attacking nearly 40 girls and women during a five-year reign of terror in the Altadore and South Calgary area.
