Child sex killer who snatched victim, 10, from her bike is granted 60 days unescorted leave from prison so he can take COOKERY classes

A man in Canada convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl before dumping her body in a lake has been allowed unescorted leave from prison after being denied parole.

Shane Ertmoed was granted 60 days of unescorted leave from prison on September 2 to work with a prestigious chef while serving his life sentence for the murder of Heather Thomas. 

Thomas disappeared on October 1, 2000, while riding her bike outside of her father's townhouse complex in Cloverdale in British Columbia.

The ten-year-old's body was discovered three weeks later in a hockey bag after it was pulled from Alouette Lake, according to Global News. 

Ertmoed, then a 24-year-old Surrey construction worker, was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering the young girl in 2002, the outlet reported. 

He had lured Thomas into his apartment under the guise of looking at pictures of birds before he killed her when she resisted sexual assault, the National Post reported. 

Justice Wally Oppal said after the verdict was delivered that Ertmoed had been found guilty of 'the most horrific crime known in law,' according to the Vancouver Sun. 

'You murdered a ten-year-old simply to satisfy your sexual desires... You are 220 pounds and she weighed 70 pounds. You used bully tactics and you were not content to just kill her. You had to inflict further indignity on her by dumping her body in the water and torturing the family even more,' Oppal said at the time. 

Heather Thomas, 10, disappeared on October 1, 2000, while riding her bike in Cloverdale, British Columbia

Now, almost 26 years since her disappearance, Ertmoed is slated for an unescorted temporary absence from behind bars. 

Ertmoed applied for the absence under the guise of 'personal development for rehabilitative purposes,' according to We News.  

The Parole Board approved the absence and concluded that he 'will not pose an undue risk' of reoffending, despite his case management team opposing the leave. 

Ertmoed was denied parole only last year as he was believed to still pose a risk of serious harm to the community, Global News reported. 

As part of the approval, Ertmoed was handed 'reasonable and necessary' restrictions 'to protect society and the victims,' including having no contact with Thomas's family or friends.

He is also barred from visiting over 30 municipalities in British Columbia and several other provinces, is to have no possession or access to any sexually explicit material, is prohibited from spending time with any women under 18 unless supervised, must possess no personal internet-capable device without prior approval and must report all and any relationship to any women to his supervisor. 

The Parole Board acknowledged the severity of Ertmoed's crimes, but said that he had been making progress in his treatment and self-betterment. 

Ertmoed has been taking medication to reduce sexual arousal, a treatment he had previously declined, according to Global News. 

Justice Wally Oppal said after the verdict was delivered in 2002 that Ertmoed had been found guilty of 'the most horrific crime known in law'

His temporary absence will see Ertmoed living in a community residential facility under 24-hour supervision and will continue counselling and other rehabilitation programs.

He is set to work four-and-a-half hour days, five-days-a-week with a Red Seal Chef, a chef who has been awarded a prestigious Canadian certification. 

Thomas's family staunchly opposed the absence, as they have in every parole hearing, citing fears he would re-offend and harm another child. 

'They do not believe you should have this opportunity and that you should remain in prison until you die,' the parole board's summary of their testimony said, according to the Post. 

At a parole hearing in 2025, Thomas's mother Jody Aspin told the Vancouver Sun: 'I know everything and re-live it in my head daily... Just imagine for one moment before you make any decisions, what if this had been your child?' 

The hearing heard Ertmoed questioned about the years leading up to the murder, where he admitted that his attractions began when he was 13 years old but as he got older the girls he fantasized about did not. 

He had been arrested in 1998 at 19 years old for sexually assaulting a sleeping seven-year-old girl that he had been babysitting with his girlfriend, the Sun reported. 

The charges did not proceed and he instead sought help from a counsellor, but said at the parole hearing that one of his 'biggest regrets in life' was not continuing with that counselling, according to the outlet. 

Thomas's body was discovered three weeks later in a hockey bag after it was pulled from Alouette Lake, seen above

When asked about Thomas's murder, Ertmoed said he did not plan to kill her. 

'All I could see is the immediate gratification at the time,' he said, saying that when she fought back he 'decided to murder her.' 

Aspin said in a victim impact statement at the time: 'Every year around the anniversary of Heather's abduction, rape and murder, Shane Ertmoed... demand(s) yet another privilege he believes he deserves. 

'I am sorry, he does not.'

'Why is this being allowed?' she added. 'Why are the victims not taken into consideration when these requests are being put through? Shane Ertmoed has been victimizing me and my family for the last 24 years. … Every time I get that phone call that there is yet another demand, I am paralyzed with fear.'

Aspin said she often relives the day of her daughter's death and cries 'at home, work, grocery stores and the car on a daily basis.'

'I know he shoved her lifeless body in his hockey bag,' she said, according to the Sun. 

'And shoved it under the hood of his car until he was out of the complex and around the corner. This action left burn marks on her lifeless body. I know about moving her body from place to place until dumping her in the middle of Alouette Lake with the hockey bag weighed down with rocks. 

'I know everything and relive it in my head daily.'

The board denied his parole at the time, citing that Ertmoed continued to lack understanding of the factors that led to his crimes and was 'less than vividly honest,' according to the Sun. 

Ertmoed apologized in his closing statement of his 2025 parole hearing, and said: 'I never want to put anybody else through this process ever again. I just don't want to hurt anybody else again.' 

He had previously been granted escorted absences from prison in 2021 to volunteer with a non-profit organization to clean up parks and trails, the outlet reported. 

Just around one week after Ertmoed was granted his 60-day absence, the Parole Board granted the same allowance to Douglas Lambier, a repeat child sex offender who strangled a nine-year-old boy to death in 2005, the Post reported. 

Ertmoed was set to begin his temporary absence on Monday, but the date has been postponed due to an unclear reason, according to Global News.