By Grant Warkentin
The body of a convicted murderer who escaped from the William Head Institution yesterday has been found by authorities.
“A body has been recovered in the waters off Metchosin, Vancouver Island. Authorities have confirmed the deceased to be Ernest Egon Jensen, an inmate who was reported to have escaped from William Head Institution yesterday when he was unaccounted for,” says a statement on social media from the Correctional Service of Canada.
The service says more information will be shared once it’s available.
Jensen had been serving a life sentence for second-degree murder since March 20, 1991. He had also previously served sentences for break and enter and trespassing. His absence was noted on Sunday during a headcount at noon at the minimum security prison.
His disappearance prompted a large search by multiple south Island police departments, and a warning to the public to stay away from Jensen, who was described as “dangerous.”
In 2019, two men escaped the same facility by walking around a fence at low tide. After their escape James Lee Busch and Zachary Armitage killed Martin Payne, a 60-year-old man who lived eight kilometres away from the prison. They were captured two days later and convicted of first-degree murder for killing Payne.
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