Killer’s transfer shocks victim’s mom

By Jeremy Appel on November 9, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

A local woman is dismayed to learn her daughter’s murderer was moved to a minimum-security prison in Mission, B.C., eight years before being eligible for parole.

This is particularly distressing because the killer is her former son-in-law.

Rocky Bohnet was convicted of the Jan. 2, 2001, premeditated murder of his ex-wife, Candy Anten-Bohnet, in Calgary, who was 31 years old at the time.

Candy’s mother, Shirley Anten-Burfitt, attended the entirety of her former son-in-law’s six-week trial in March and April 2002.

“It was horrible,” Anten-Burfitt said. “We saw that he’s an evil person. They were married for eight years, nine years and then were separated for two before he took her life.”

She said the family is informed every time Bohnet is transferred. This is the fourth time it’s occurred and each instance opens up old wounds.

“We knew down the road that we would deal with this,” said Anten-Burfitt.

“I was never one after he was sentenced to say, ‘Oh my gosh, now he’s got 24 years and so many days.’ You can’t live like that. You don’t put it behind you, but you try not to dwell on it because it doesn’t make for good mental health.”

She’s particularly fearful for the possibility of Bohnet escaping or contacting his children — her grandchildren — who as far as the family is concerned, have lost both parents.

“They don’t need for him to be in touch with them,” she said, adding that they want nothing to do with him. “They don’t need that stress.”

The family hoped Bohnet would never see parole, but with his transfer to a minimum-security prison, the possibility seems increasingly likely.

“My daughter’s not coming back after 25 years, so I don’t understand why he should come back,” Anten-Burfitt said. “I’m afraid of him.”

Although escaping would put him back in maximum security, the less secure a facility is, the easier it is to leave.

Anten-Burfitt says she believes Bohnet is beyond rehabilitation.

The day her daughter went missing, Anten-Burfitt called Bohnet to let him know the police were coming to interview him.

“We talked for a while and, I remember it like it was yesterday, he said, ‘I love you mom,'” recalled Anten-Burfitt. “How can someone do that and 12 hours prior he had taken my daughter’s life?”

She said she hadn’t suspected him of the killing until he was arrested. She had dismissed concerns of family and friends.

It came out during the trial that Bohnet had been planning Anten-Bohnet’s murder for two weeks prior, discussing his plot with his best friend.

In a two-hour phone conservation, a representative of Victims Services — which Anten-Burfitt holds in “wonderful regard,” due to their being at her side throughout Bohnet’s trial — said the family likely has about a one-per-cent chance of having the transfer reversed.

Anten-Burfitt has been in touch with Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz, who advised her to write a letter to Corrections Services of Canada.

“We may be told we can’t do much, and maybe we can’t, but it doesn’t mean we can’t try,” said Anten-Burfitt.

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