Travis Vader to face trial in 2016 in killings of two missing Alberta seniors

EDMONTON — A trial date has been set for a man accused of killing two Alberta seniors whose bodies have never been found.

But Travis Vader's lawyer has warned the court that he still intends to fight the Crown's decision to reactivate charges against his client.

Vader was first charged in 2012 with two counts of first-degree murder in the 2010 deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann.

The charges were stayed in March, a few weeks before Vader was to face a jury trial, but he was rearrested in December.

Lawyer Brian Beresh calls the arrest an abuse of process and says he hasn't been told whether there is any new evidence against his client.

If the trial goes ahead, it has been scheduled to begin April 8, 2016.

Vader is free on $25,000 bail but must remain under house arrest.

The McCanns, both in their 70s, were last seen fuelling up their motorhome in their hometown of St. Albert, a bedroom community north of Edmonton, in July 2010. They were on their way to a family camping trip in British Columbia.

Their burned out motorhome was discovered west of Edmonton a few days after they were last seen.

Mounties soon named Vader a person of interest and later a suspect, and he was held on unrelated charges until he was charged with the killings in 2012.

Earlier this year, he filed lawsuits against prosecutors and the RCMP claiming malicious prosecution. He alleges he was kept in custody on trumped-up charges until he could be charged with murdering the McCanns. He also claims mistreatment by staff at the Edmonton Remand Centre.

When Vader walked out of the remand centre in March, he told reporters that he knew nothing about the McCanns and had been the subject of a witch hunt by the justice system.