Thomas Anthony McDonald was found guilty of manslaughter in the Dawson Creek courthouse on April 4, more than 30 years after the shooting death of Earl Dean Jones while returning home from a Dawson Creek bar.
On the evening of Sept. 25, 1981, Jones was at the former Windsor Hotel on 102 Avenue with his wife when an argument between himself and McDonald led to a minor physical altercation. McDonald left the bar following the incident and the Jones’ got in their vehicle to drive home to their property outside of town.
Jones’ wife noticed a vehicle following them, and several shots were fired, one that hit and killed Earl Jones in the passenger seat.
McDonald was stopped at a roadblock following the shooting and was deemed a “person of interest” but a lack of evidence prevented charges from being laid.
Originally from the United Kingdom, McDonald left Canada returning home and after years spent on the case by the Dawson Creek RCMP, it went on to the Unsolved Homicide Unit.
A break in the case came in 2009 when McDonald returned to Canada, and was eventually arrested in Surrey in 2011.
Crown council said a sentence for McDonald, who is now more than 60 years old, would be determined at a later date. In Canada, a charge of manslaughter involving a firearm carries a minimum prison sentence of four years to life.
