The province’s top court says a man who went missing during a 2009 hangar fire at the PG Airport has been declared legally dead.
According to court documents, three of Vernon Michael Martin’s brothers filed the petition in BC Supreme Court.
The ruling was made official on Wednesday, putting an end to fifteen years of uncertainty.
The final report states Martin had been accused of sexual misconduct and a suicide note was located within a fire-proof filing cabinet after the blaze.
Martin was 55 years old at the time of the incident and owned a number of companies with his brothers. His family wanted him declared deceased in order to settle his estate, which had been held in limbo.
This included up to 16 life insurance policies.
Police had an open investigation on Martin for public mischief – he was also wanted on charges in Alberta for two counts of indecent assault and gross indecency.
On December 17th 2009, Martin attended a meeting involving family members where he did not deny the allegations against him. Two days later, a co-worker and his wife addressed Martin to discuss allegations of sexual misconduct with their son during his teenage years.
The Supreme Court noted smoke was spotted coming out of the window of the hangar – fire crews took the call but saw no sign of Martin during recovery efforts.
Martin’s last known location was inside the Hangar – despite several searches by local authorities the court ruled there was no evidence of him ever leaving the site,
The following day, his vehicle, identification, wallet and, other personal items were found.
BC’s top court squashed down any notion Martin faked his disappearance as no evidence was presented, he was set to vanish or that foul play occurred.
One of his brothers located the fireproof safes and filing cabinet three months after the incident where some of the contents inside included an apology letter as well as a disposition of his assets that were dated on December 16th of that year.
The court concluded Martin took his own life.
A link to the ruling can be found here.
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