William Morris Freeman

Order-in-Council 17^th of February 1958 William Morris Freeman, charged with two counts murder, Burnaby, remanded to Oakalla prison. Sent from there to Essondale for a psychiatric evaluation.

He murdered his wife, Audrey Mae Freeman and daughter Pauline Anne Freeman, at their home on 4421 Darwin Avenue, in Burnaby

Audrey Mae Freeman neé Audrey Mae Hearn ( Vancouver, B.C. 12 February 1925 - 29 January1958 )    parents: James Francis Hearn,( 1897-1981 ) and Dorothy Lillian Jones, ⁽¹⁾Dorothy Lillian Hearn ⁽²⁾Dorothy Lillian Jackson ( 1899 – 1985 ) who were married from 1923  until 1940 when they divorced.         
Pauline Anne Freeman ( Vancouver, B.C. 6 February 1953 – 29 January 1958 Burnaby, B.C. )   

William Morris Freeman ( Vancouver, B.C. 25 November 1924 – 22 April 1958 Essondale, B.C. ) parents: James Freeman, and Hilda Pearl Russell.  Two and half months later he hung himself with a sheet from the top step of a ladder while washing windows.

29 January 1958  The Vancouver sun
Mother, Tot Slain in Bloody Affray

      A four-year-old girl and her mother are dead following a bloody knife-axe affray in a neat Burnaby home early today. The father and a second daughter, eight are in hospital suffering from stab wounds.
RCMP said the husband went berserk, attacking his wife and children and then tried to kill himself.

Dead are: Mrs. Audrey Freeman, about 32.
Pauline Freeman, 4.
In hospital are William Freeman, about 36, and Doreen Freeman, 8.

HIT WITH AXE

Police said circumstances indicated Freeman's stab wounds were self-inflicted.
He was forced into a strait-jacket to be taken to hospital.
Mrs. Freeman was reported to have been struck several times with an axe.
Pauline was stabbed through the heart.
Doreen suffered several stab wounds but none were serious, police said.

CHILD FLEES

    Investigators believe the family was eating breakfast in the kitchen of their home at 4421 Darwin, when the grim attack broke out.
The wife apparently was attacked first with an axe, followed by the knifing of the two girls.

Mother, Girl, 4, Slain in Burnaby

Doreen ran out of her home to that of a neighbour, Robert Gatter, 4415 Darwin. She was taken from there to Burnaby General Hospital in the same ambulance in which her father lay strapped into the jacket.

Discovery of the tragedy was made by Freeman's partners in Crest Painting Contractors, Norman Thompson, 1106 Cottonwood, Burquitlam, and George Farquhar, 432 Third Street, New Westminster.
Thompson and Farquhar heard screaming and raced upstairs to find the grisly scene, police said.

Police said that Pauline appeared to have been stabbed while she was in bed in a back bedroom.
Mrs. Freeman was found lying in the front bedroom in a semi-conscious condition and moaning.

HELP SOUGHT

Freeman, when police arrived on the scene, was standing in the front hall.
Mrs. Robert Lang, 4275 Moscrop Street, two doors from the Freeman home, said that Mr. Gatter came to the back door of her home and said" You better come quick. "I think Mrs. Freeman is ill."
Mrs. Lang told Mr. Gatter to call a doctor, who lived nearby.
Mr. Gatter said "I went into the kitchen of the freeman home. "I saw Bill standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
"Blood was streaming from a wound in his neck.
" I asked what's the trouble, Bill?"
"He replied, I've had it. I've had it."
" I heard a girl screaming in the bedroom.
"I saw Doreen siting on her mother's bed, holding her side.
"She appeared to be hurt.
"Mrs. Freeman was lying on the floor. She was covered with blood. I was certain that she was dead.
"the smaller Freeman child was also lying on the floor.
"I was quite certain that she was dead."
Mr. Gatter said that Freeman had driven off his partners with a knife when they burst into the house from the basement.
Police said Pauline was pronounced dead on arrival at Burnaby General Hospital.

HEAD WOUND

    Freeman was reported to have a stab wound in the head and three other wounds in the chest. They said that they expected him to survive
the Freeman home, a neat stucco bungalow with green trim was built by Freeman himself. The family had lived in it for about a year.
Mrs. Lang said that Freeman worked late at night to finish the house for his family
Mrs. Freeman died in Burnaby General Hospital at 10:15 a.m., just about two hours after the tragedy was discovered.
Mrs. Lang said Mr. Gatter came out of the Freeman house and one of Freeman's partners was weeping as he sat on the steps.
Carl King 4445 Darwin Ave., said that Freeman had painted his home about six weeks ago.
Mr. King said that at that time Freeman appeared to be worried about financial matters and business troubles.

 

25 April 1958 The Vancouver Sun
Man charged in Slayings, Suicides

New Westminster ― A 34-year-old man charged earlier this year with the murder of his wife and daughter, hanged himself at the Provincial Mental Hospital at Essondale.
He was William Morris Freeman, formerly of 4421 Darwin Ave., Burnaby, scene of the double slaying on January 29.

NOTE: a very sad story all around. No idea what happened to Doreen Freeman, who must have been permanently affected by all of this trauma.