This is Peter.
“MERCY TO THE GUILTY IS CRUELTY TO THE INNOCENT.”
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
This site has been created for the sole purpose of sharing information to help solve the brutal murder of Peter Schnellhardt, which occurred on July 4/06 in Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada. Peter’s body was found in the early morning hours at United Concrete and Gravel Ltd., 245 Hodgson Road, by a fellow employee arriving for work.
Two years after the murder, the RCMP told a member of Peter’s family that three individuals (whose names were kept secret from the public) had become the main suspects in the murder, one of whom had sustained some personal injuries in an unrelated matter in 2007. In late 2009, a first degree murder charge was laid against the injured suspect when he was caught by the RCMP on wiretap confessing to his role in the murder to a friend, during which he also implicated the other two suspects, Trina Mae Phillips (Trixie, as she was known in Williams Lake) and Guy William Smith. Crown Counsel’s plan was that once the accused was convicted of murder at trial, charges would then be approved against the accomplices, who would then be tried separately at a later date for their roles in the murder.
Shortly after the injured accused was arrested and charged, he was let out on bail with a long list of very strict conditions that he had to abide by if he wanted to stay out of remand while awaiting trial, most of which he promptly disobeyed and proceeded to do whatever he wanted to do, including the fact that the RCMP were called three times because the injured accused had been stalking and harassing women in the community he had been hidden in (presumably to keep him safe from his co-murderers while awaiting trial). But neither Crown Counsel or the judge revoked his bail for breaching those conditions that had been placed on him.
Crown Counsel and the judge who had heard his bail application decided that there was so much available evidence against the accused that a Preliminary Hearing was not required in this case and that it was going to go straight to trial.
The charged accused opted to be tried by judge alone and two years later (in October 2011) the trial was secretly moved from Williams Lake to Kelowna BC. Within a surprisingly few short days (for a murder trial), the judge (who was the very same judge that had granted the accused bail and who had decided that no Preliminary Hearing was required in this case) declared the accused “not guilty” because he chose not to believe the accused’s wiretapped confession, despite the accused’s knowledge of the hold-back information and other available evidence. The judge also chose to ignore the accused’s warnings of the dangerous nature of one of the other two accomplices in Peter Schnellhardt’s murder, Guy William Smith. The judge backed up his decision to allow all three suspects to go free by declaring that Crown Counsel had not proven his case and then the judge placed a “forever” publication ban on the name of the injured accused he let go free (this site will refer to this accused as “X”) so that the court could protect “X” from those he had implicated in the murder during the wiretapping (if what “X” said in the wiretap was not true, then in our opinion, “X” didn’t need court ordered protection) so none of this made any sense at the time nor does it now.
Consequently and unjustly, Peter Schnellhardt’s homicide remains unsolved to date by the Williams Lake RCMP and the Prince George RCMP Major Crimes Unit. No information about the trial and/or its resulting verdict of not-guilty was ever made available to the public.
In early 2014, in an attempt to obtain some justice for a now forgotten-about murder and having no choice but to start over from scratch about who was possibly involved in Peter’s murder, this blog was created to ask the public for help/information to solve it. Within a few months, someone posted to this blog the names of two of the three original murder suspects, confirming to us that what was believed in the beginning about who the main suspects were/are was correct and that it was the judge who had gotten it wrong.
In September 2014, a court hearing was initiated by the family of Peter Schnellhardt in an attempt to have the publication ban on the name of the injured accused (“X”) removed because it infringed on the public’s right to properly scrutinize the murder trial of the accused in 2011 and at the same time, the ban protected those who they believed murdered Peter and prevented his family from being able to do anything about it or what happened at the trial. Unfortunately and with much frustration, the removal of the publication ban was denied by the judge at the hearing because just days before the hearing was to begin, the remains of a missing man named Gary Price were found in the Williams Lake area after an 18-month RCMP search (the victim was last seen alive in late February 2013). In conversations between the Schnellhardt family and the RCMP (after the hearing), it was confirmed that the same dangerous accomplice, Guy William Smith (who was originally named in the wiretap by the injured accused at the 2011 murder trial) had now become a suspect in both Peter’s and Gary’s deaths. The family of Peter Schnellhardt were then informed that the RCMP had re-opened Peter’s murder investigation (which would then frustratingly go nowhere causing the case to stall out again).
But in the meantime, manslaughter and performing an indecency to human remains charges were subsequently filed against Guy Smith in May 2015 for his role in this second suspected murder of victim Gary Price. A preliminary hearing was held for Guy Smith in 2016 in relation to the death of Gary Price and the judge decided there was enough evidence to proceed with the trial, which began in Williams Lake in 2017. On July 3/18, Guy William Smith was found guilty on both counts for the death of a Gary Price. On Friday Dec 14/18 Guy Smith was sentenced a total of 11 years for killing and dismembering Gary Price, a resident of Cariboo Lake which is approximately 40 kilometres from Likely, BC. Guy Smith was handed a 7 1/2 year term for manslaughter and 3 1/2 years for interference with a dead body. Guy Smith was given time and a half credit for each day he spent in remand since May 2015, resulting in 2036 days or just over 5 1/2 years remaining to be served in prison. In addition, Madame Justice Church ordered Guy Smith to provide a DNA sample. He is also prohibited from possessing a firearm, ammunition and explosives for 10 years, plus restricted weapons or devices for life, after his release from prison.
Smith Receives 11 Year Prison Sentence in Death of Likely area Resident Gary Price
At this point in time there is a belief that as additional information is provided from the public along with the RCMP’s continuing investigation, that charges will ultimately be laid in the murder of Peter Schnellhardt. It is hoped that by sharing the truth about what happened to Peter confidentially to this blog or directly with the officer in charge of this case (see below for contact information) that those who were involved in this horrible despicable act on an innocent and defenceless person will be brought to justice.
Update March 31 2019: A big thank you to Bethany Lindsay of CBC.ca for doing a great article on the unsolved murder of Peter Schnellhardt. Below please find the attached link to the article:
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/bc-killing-peter-schnellhardt
Update May 6 2019: Please check out this YouTube video released today. There will be more to come…
A very big thank you goes out to The Goat 94.9 in Williams Lake for reminding the community about Peter’s still unsolved murder.
Update May 8, 2019: Today, Rebecca Dyok of My Cariboo Now Williams Lake published the following article. She did an excellent job and we appreciate her efforts very much. Thank you Rebecca!
Schnellhardt’s Family Still Seeking Justice in Williams Lake Homicide 13 Years Later
Update: As a result of the media’s help in getting the word out about Peter Schnellhardt’s unsolved murder, a new witness with very credible and incriminating evidence against the same original suspects (X, Guy Smith, and Trina Phillips) came forward to this blog with information and then subsequently gave a lengthy statement to the RCMP. The new witness also told of another person who is fully aware of what happened to Peter and we are hoping this person will share with the RCMP what they know as well.
Update: on October 15/2021, two wonderful ladies did the following podcast in an effort to help the family get the word out about Peter’s still unsolved murder asking for anyone with any additional information to please talk to the RCMP, as this is the perfect time to do so. We are very grateful to the podcast for their interest and time.
Update as of Feb.5/22: With the help of a lawyer hired by the family of Peter Schnellhardt, an ATIP request was submitted through the Privacy Commission for information about the murder of Peter Schnellhardt. It was wonderful to hear back that the investigation into the cold case murder of Peter Schnellhardt has been re-opened by the RCMP and is currently being investigated again, thanks to help of new witnesses who have recently come forward to them with information. The family of Peter is very grateful and have hired a private investigator to assist the RCMP. With luck and good investigative work, we hope that justice will soon be served for this brutal and unjust murder.
UPDATE June 30/July 1, 2022 – Please listen to this podcast done by the hosts of True Crime True North, Graeme and Caitlin. They did a superb job of putting together this complicated story of the unsolved murder of Peter Schnellhardt in such a straight forward and uncomplicated manner. Their hard work is truly appreciated and with their help getting the word out about this case, hopefully someone will come forward with the last few pieces of information the RCMP require to finally get more charges approved against the planners and perpetrators of this horrific, cruel and senseless murder.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/true-north-true-crime/id1516149477?i=1000568265678
Please stay posted for more updates as they become available. If anyone has information they would like to share with the new RCMP officer assigned to the case as of July 1, 2022, please contact:
Sgt Chad Mereski, Investigator with the E Division North District Major Crime Unit in Prince George, BC at 1-250-649-3911 or 1-250-981-5817.
This website is grateful for your support in its quest for truth and facts. Information on this blog is from factual media stories/RCMP but personal opinions cannot be guaranteed or warranted by this site or its administrators in any way.
Thank You,
Friends and Supporters of Justice for Peter Schnellhardt
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Peter Schnellhardt Murder 
My husband was good friends with Peter starting in their childhood in Canmore and continued on all the way through their lives finally working together as Truck Drivers. We think of Peter often and believe whole heartedly that “T” is 100% behind the world losing him. I can’t imagine what this has been like for your family but please know we think of you all often and send our love to you. I have read your book.
Recently another mutual friend of their’s passed so please know Peter’s got friends in heaven too. ❤️
Thank you for your message and for thinking of Peter. I miss him very much as well. The injustice has been difficult to deal with but I will continue the fight no matter what.
I am so sorry for your loss! I would never have known about this story, as I am a Scandinavian, but to hear your story on the podcast made me feel furious. And extremely eager to just reach out and say that I am sorry for your revictimasation, by the authorities. I can not imagine how you, Petra, cope.
Sadly it seems like many Canadians have been going through the same struggle. My thoughts and heart are with you, fighting fierce woman! Keep up!
Thank you for your message. I am so pleased that my brother’s story and my fight for justice has made it all the way over to Scandinavia. It is truly a sad and reprehensible thing that our politicians, judges and lawyers (and police to a degree) have ruined what used to be the great country of Canada, which has pretty much become lawless. Now there are so many murderers and bad people with long criminal records running around free who should actually be incarcerated and this is a grave public safety concern. I will continue my fight for justice for my brother and I will never give up. I am not sure what things are like in your country but I hope it is better than what is happening here. Take care, Petra