Two young girls found dead in a Vancouver Island home on Christmas Day were the subject of a custody dispute.
The bodies of Chloe, 6, and Aubrey, 4, were found in an apartment located near the Oak Bay Marina in Oak Bay, B.C. around 5 p.m. on Monday. Police say an adult male was discovered inside the apartment with undisclosed injuries and taken to hospital.
Police are treating the case as a double homicide. They say the public is not at risk and that they are not looking for any suspects.
A family friend told CTV Vancouver Island that Andrew Berry, and his two daughters, lived in the apartment.
Neighbour Chris-Ann Lake, who lives in the same building, described the girls as happy.
“I saw them the other day,” Lake said. “They were playing.”
CTV Vancouver Island reports that the girls’ devastated mother is Sarah Cotton. A close friend said her parents are deceased and she is an only child, so she now has no immediate family.
During custody dispute, Cotton expressed many concerns about Berry’s parenting and told the court through her lawyer that he once threatened to “blow up the house.”
The judge awarded shared custody and spelled out who would have custody over the Christmas holiday period.
“With respect to Christmas, in every odd-numbered year, the girls will have parenting time with the Father from noon on December 24 to noon on December 25, and with the Mother from noon on December 25 until noon on December 26, in even-numbered years, the parenting time for noon December 24 to noon December 26 will be with the opposite parent,” the judge wrote.
With files from CTV Vancouver Island, The Canadian Press and Jackie Dunham
