It is alleged that Robert massacred his entire family at their home in Stettler, but was only charged with killing his father.

[2] Months before the murders, Robert was hit in the head with a lead pipe while serving time for breaking and entering and car theft.

The victims were in their nightwear and blood was found on the mattresses, indicating that the massacre happened as the family was sleeping.

[5] Robert had been arrested in Stettler the day before and charged with obtaining goods under false pretences, after he had traded the family's 1958 Chevrolet station wagon for a 1959 Impala convertible.

Robert also had a suitcase with four sets of children's pyjamas, new bed sheets, and a photo album with pictures of his mother.

Although he was implicated in the deaths of his entire family, he was only charged with the murder of his father in order to speed up the legal proceedings.

Just after midnight on July 11, 1959, Robert escaped from the Ponoka Mental Institution he was detained in, for a psychiatric assessment, after he had been denied permission to attend the funerals of his family.

Officials had 100 members of the RCMP, police dogs, 50 soldiers from the local militia, and aircraft search for Robert.

[9] While on death row at the Fort Saskatchewan Provincial Gaol, Robert authored a poem as part of a last-minute plea for clemency sent to the Solicitor General of Canada, and Prime Minister John G.

[10] I sit here in my death cell, I know not why, For the evidence proved me innocent, and that is no lie Seven members of my family, murdered to date, The jury on a guess would make it number eight, Was it planned that way or was it just fate.

He wiped up his finger prints, all traces of his crime, Putting a stained suit under the mattress, no doubt he knew it was mine His purpose clear to see the murder of the missing member without fear of the fine

Time he would gain and safe he would be So I ask you is it strange that I am sentenced to the noose While my family's killer is on the loose.

After officials declined to grant a reprieve, Robert was hanged at the Fort Saskatchewan Provincial Gaol just after midnight on November 15, 1960.