A man charged with the murder of three family members following a Castor house fire will hear the Crown’s case against him.
Jason Gordon Klaus, 38, and his alleged accomplice, Joshua Gregory Frank, 29, elected to go to preliminary hearing in Red Deer provincial court on Tuesday.
Preliminary inquiries are used to test the strength of the Crown’s case.
Klaus and Frank are charged with first-degree murder and arson. Frank is also charged with shooting the family dog. Both men have elected to be tried in Court of Queen’s Bench by a judge and jury if the case proceeds to trial.
Gordon, Sandra and Monica Klaus were killed in 2013. The remains of Klaus’s father Gordon, 61, and sister Monica 40, were located in the charred remains of the family’s farm house near Castor. Police said the remains of Klaus’s mother Sandra, 62, were not recovered. Police suspect her remains were consumed in the fire.
A date for the preliminary inquiry has yet to be set.