Parents of boys found dead in Alberta home were fighting over custody

By Ben Gelinas and Alexandra Zabjek, Edmonton Journal February 3, 2010

MILLET, Alta. — They were born 12,000 kilometres and just 18 days apart — one in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, and the other in Calgary.

They were both 27 when they met in November 2005, while she was in Canada on a work visa.

Curtis McConnell and Allyson Meager did what many young couples do after they fall in love: they moved in together, got married, bought a home, started a family.

And somewhere in the last few months, it all began to fall apart.

He filed divorce papers. She filed a counter-claim.

Accusations were made. He was worried she might take their two sons back to Australia, and took away the boys' passports to keep that from happening.

On Monday, a neighbour who lives near the couple's home in Millet, a small town 60 kilometres south of Edmonton, said a frantic Curtis McConnell showed up at her door around 3 p.m.

"He was crying, 'My wife just killed the kids.' He was hysterical. I've never seen him like that. At first I didn't believe him."

The woman said she followed him back to the home, where she saw the bodies of two little boys, Jayden and Connor, "cold and stiff" on the bathroom floor.

"He had already pulled them out of the tub," said the neighbour, who did not want to be named.

The neighbour said police later told her the boys' mother had tried to kill herself by jumping off an Edmonton bridge on Monday afternoon.

Edmonton police say a woman jumped off a bridge at about 2:15 p.m. and landed on a freeway. She was taken to hospital with undisclosed injuries.

RCMP investigators spent much of Tuesday at the McConnell home in Millet, a recently built bungalow. So far, police are saying little about what happened in that house.

The names of the dead have not been officially released, though the boys' parents, now both 31, have been identified by neighbours and in court documents.

The Edmonton medical examiner is expected Wednesday to release results of a post-mortem done to determine the manner and cause of the deaths.

The neighbour said the couple was going through a difficult divorce.

"There was a lot of tension," she said.

The couple was married in New South Wales, Australia, on Jan. 26, 2007, and bought a house in Millet, a town of 2,200.

Their first son, Connor Ryan, was born July 31, 2007.

For the past two years, Curtis McConnell worked the 3-11 p.m. shift at a nearby Home Hardware outlet. For a few months, Allyson worked in the payroll department for an oil company.

Their second son, Jayden Blair, was born March 24, 2009. Eight months later, the couple separated.

Curtis McConnell filed for divorce in December.

"Recently, the respondent has been threatening me that she wants to move back to Australia with our children," he wrote in a sworn affidavit filed Dec. 11, 2009, in connection with the divorce proceedings. "I am completely opposed to this and I am fearful that she will attempt to do this without my consent or knowledge.

"As such, I have taken our children's passports for safekeeping. She has gone to the extent of applying for our children's Australian citizenship and then I believe she will be applying for a passport, which makes me uncomfortable."

On Dec. 21, a judge ruled the children must remain in Alberta until further direction from the court.

In a statement of defence filed Jan. 15, Allyson McConnell said she wanted to relocate to Australia with her children, where she would have more family and government support, and a better chance at employment. She said the children suffered from medical conditions that would benefit from a warmer climate.

She promised her husband would have reasonable access to the children if she moved.

The neighbour who saw the boys' bodies on the bathroom floor said she last saw Allyson on Friday, when the two women took their children swimming in Leduc. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though in retrospect she said it was a little strange that her neighbour left her camera equipment with her, saying she didn't want her husband to get it.

The woman, whose little girl played with the two boys, said she was in shock.

"She loved those boys more than anything," the woman said. "They were great boys. Nobody would have seen this coming at all."

The deaths have hit the small town hard. The McConnell family is well known and has lived in the area for generations, another neighbour said.

She said the little boys meant "the world" to their grandparents, who had no other grandchildren.

Michelle Schmidt placed a teddy bear on the front lawn of the house Tuesday morning as part of a growing memorial that included twin angels and lanterns. She said she didn't know the family, but knows somebody who did.

"I just wanted to pay my respects to the family," Schmidt said. "I think the community is really heartbroken right now."

From: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Parents+boys+found+dead+Alberta+home+were+fighting+over+custody/2517983/story.html