The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
In a shocking development, a man convicted of murdering a teenager in The Pas has confessed to unspecified crimes against more than a dozen other people. Robert Bliss Arthurson provided no specific details on the crimes during a parole hearing this week, simply saying he victimized 15 or 16 other people, some of whom police don't know about. "He didn't say exactly victims of what," Mike Halko, spokesman for the parole board, told The Canadian Press. "He didn't say of molestation or sexual touching or exposure on his part or anything. He just said there's probably 15 or 16 others out there. That was kind of the end of the statement." Arthurson, 47, is serving a life sentence in an Alberta prison for the 1994 murder of a 13-year-old girl in The Pas. He became eligible for parole but was denied after the parole board concluded he still poses a risk. After his vague confession, Arthurson said he was willing to be tried for the other crimes, and police said an officer would be speaking with him. Hundreds of people from The Pas and area helped search for the 13-year-old victim after she went missing in September 1994. Her body was eventually found next to a gravel road in the community. At least 1,000 residents had signed a petition in support of keeping Arthurson behind bars.
