Man receives life sentence for 2024 murders of wife and son

The following article deal with heavy subject matter, including death and violence against family members, and could be upsetting to some readers.

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — A man from the Tsay Keh Dene Nation northwest of Fort St. John will spend at least a decade behind bars for the 2024 murders of his wife and son.

Orlan Marcel Dennis was found guilty of second-degree murder, receiving a life sentence for the killings.

Both the Crown and defence agreed to a mandatory life sentence,  with no chance of parole for ten years, in the murders of Darlene and Dorian Dennis, which took place in April 2024.

The sentence was handed down on Tuesday, May 26th, according to court documents obtained by Energeticcity.ca by Justice Simon Coval.  

Coval added in his assessment of the events that the nation of 235 members had “imposed an order of banishment” on the accused, an Indigenous practice that indicates eviction from the community.

Dennis had previously entered a guilty plea earlier this year, after an attempt to retract an earlier admission of the killings.

In entering the plea, Coval stated in the documents that Dennis’ “spared the family the trial and his son having to testify about being present when the events occurred,” adding “further support comes from the deep connection between Mr. Dennis’ crimes and the Indigenous sentencing factors present in his upbringing.”

Dennis had been drinking heavily with multiple parties at his mother’s residence on the evening of Tuesday, April 9th, 2024, in Tsay Keh Dene, a community approximately 360 kilometres north of Prince George.

Upon leaving his mother’s house after arguing with his brother, Tony Dennis, Orlan returned to his own residence in an inebriated state. 

Orlan and Darlene began arguing at around 10 p.m., with the husband accusing his wife of infidelity.

He then grabbed a .22 calibre rifle from their gun safe and shot his wife in the face, below her left eye, fatally injuring her.

Their 18-year-old son, Dorian, was downstairs in the house when he heard the gunshot.  Upon coming upstairs and seeing his mother, Orlan shot his son in the chest, causing bodily harm that “he knew would likely result in that person’s death.” Dorian went back down the stairs after being shot.

Dorian’s brother, Marshall, opened his bedroom door to see his brother covered in blood at the bottom of the stairs. 

After attempting to open the basement back door, which he found was locked, Marshall escaped to his grandmother’s residence via his own bedroom window.

He then told his grandmother to call the police. RCMP units arrived at the scene at 10:14 p.m., according to the documents. 

Orlan, who by this point had managed to get to the front stairs at his mother’s residence, was “waving the rifle frantically,” attempting to get inside the home.  

He eventually got inside, while Marshall exited through a window. While at his grandmother’s residence, he had called his aunt, Hollie McCook-Izony, explaining that her sister and nephew had been shot. 

The situation led to a lengthy stand-off involving additional RCMP negotiators. Eventually, Orlan, .22 calibre in hand, emerged at 5:41 a.m. the following morning.

Emergency Response Team members, who had arrived from Prince George, shot Orlan in the hip and arm. According to the documents, he had “multiple rounds” of ammunition on his person.

The sentencing hearing featured victim impact statements from five family members, including Darlene Dennis’ twin sister, McCook-Izony; three of the Dennis’ five children; and Dorian Dennis’ longtime partner and the mother of his son, Liam.