Family wants Coroner's Inquest

May 22, 2008

By Robert Mangelsdorf
Maple Ridge News

The final years of Karen Beck’s life were spent living in fear of the man she married and helped raise a family with.
Despite a restraining order, Beck’s husband Richard intimidated her, terrorized her, threatened her life, and ultimately, took it from her.
When Karen’s adult son Robert heard that his father had strangled his mother to death, before setting their Maple Ridge home on fire and hanging himself last November, all he could think was, “He finally did it.”
Robert Beck and his grandmother Phyllis Chichenko, Karen’s mother, held a press conference at the Ridge Meadows Senior’s Centre on Thursday and asked the B.C. Coroner’s Office to conduct an inquest into the case. They feel the RCMP could have done more to protect Karen and hope a coroner’s inquest may recommend steps to help prevent a similar situation from happening again.
“The main reason why we’re here is so we can at least protect some future Karens,” said Robert. “The biggest thing we can do is hope for change, and we can all push for it.”
RCMP still haven’t released their official account of what happened that day, and the file remains open.
In November, police said they were not in a position to offer intimate details of the murder-suicide, and there would be no further information released.
The family claims Karen, 52, suffered for years under her husband’s thumb, and the system let her down.
Some of Richard Beck’s methods of intimidation were subtle, some not-so.
His rifle, for instance, was always kept in the bedroom, in the back of the closet. But some days, the rifle would be right there at the front, taken out of its case for Karen to see, says Robert.
Another time, he held the gun to her head.
Put all your all things in a box, Karen had said Richard told her, where we’re going we won’t need them anymore.
Police were called to the house and confiscated a rifle from Richard, which he gave up willingly.
He was not arrested, though, as RCMP say there was nothing to substantiate criminal charges. The family was told the police could do nothing unless Richard physically harmed Karen.
After 33 years of marriage, she fled the relationship in June 2005 and was referred to the Cythera transition house by RCMP. She filed for divorce shortly thereafter.
The couple were involved in a number of civil suits as Karen tried to force the sale of their house. Although the civil court laid down a restraining order against Richard Beck, RCMP had no knowledge of it, because it was a civil and not a criminal restraining order.
After fleeing to Calgary, where she stayed with family, Karen returned to Maple Ridge, at the urging of her lawyer, to prepare their house for sale after Richard refused to do so.
On Nov. 15, 2007, she visited the home she shared with her husband in the upscale Whispering Falls neighbourhood for the last time, and was murdered by Richard Beck, 54.
Chichenko didn’t think Richard had it in him, she didn’t think he was capable of something so heinous.
“We never thought it would go this far,” she said, her eyes welling with tears.
Robert Beck said his mother did her best to shield the family from their father, but sadly there was no one to shield her from him.
“My mother had a way of protecting all of us, she didn’t want us thinking our dad was an animal,” said Robert Beck on Thursday. “Maybe we didn’t do enough.”
Beck and Chichenko were joined by Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows NDP MLA Michael Sather at the press conference, who said that questions still remain about the RCMP’s role in Karen’s death.
“I think there should have been a criminal charge of harassment against Mr. Beck,” Sather said.
Because Richard Beck never physically assaulted Karen, no charges were laid.
“One of the biggest questions that I got asked by the police officers was, ‘Was your mom ever hurt, or beaten?’ And the answer was, No,” said Beck. “But you never know when that person is going over the edge.”
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows RCMP Cpl. Ryan Schlecker said, while he sympathizes with the family’s loss, police did all that was within their power
“We work within the laws that we are bound to protect,” said Schlecker. “As police officers, we work within the system. At the end of the day, it’s up to the public to determine what kind of policing system or justice system they want.”
Robert Beck believes better communication between all the agencies involved in his mother’s case could have prevented her death. He hopes an inquest, which does not designate blame, will at least draw attention to this problem, and offer a possible solution.
“If you are in an abusive relationship, run like heck,” said Beck. “Hopefully, we can protect people better in the future.”