A Texas homicide suspect was living in a tent with his dog in the woods in Halifax before he was arrested at a Bayers Lake business for shoplifting, according to a recently released report.
On Dec. 30, a Halifax Regional Police officer approached Derek Cameron Whisenand, 28, outside of the Walmart on Chain Lake Drive for wearing a new pair of boots out of the store without paying for them, says an HRP report obtained by The Chronicle Herald.
Whisenand fled from the officer to a nearby fast food restaurant and hid behind the garbage bins before sprinting toward Costco.
When another officer spotted Whisenand running through the parking lot, she got out of her vehicle and told him he was under arrest. Whisenand said the man she was looking for had just run past him toward Costco before he took off again.
The officer, identified in the report as Const. MacDonald, ran after Whisenand, drew her Taser and told him if he kept running she would stun him.
Whisenand, wearing brand new beige work boots with the tags still on them, stopped and put his hands behind his back.
When searching Whisenand, MacDonald found a wallet with a bus pass and points cards with women's names on them. Whisenand said he found the wallet and identified himself as Christian Bates.
“Const. MacDonald ran this name, however, nothing was noted on Versadex or Canadian Police Information Centre that matched his description,” the report says.
MacDonald didn’t believe Whisenand about his identity and eventually located a tattered old social security card, wrinkled inside the pouch of his wallet. The card was in the name of Derek Cameron Whisenand but didn’t have a date of birth on it.
“Can I please go back to my dog now?” Whisenand asked after telling MacDonald his date of birth.
Whisenand was arrested after MacDonald ran his name through Versadex and the Canadian Police Information Centre and up came his Canada-wide immigration warrant.
Whisenand was the subject of the warrant for the murder of 78-year-old Burton Duane Sanborn, whose body was found in his home in Eastland County, Texas, in June.
Whisenand, originally from North Dakota, was suspected to have fled to Canada after his car was found in Walhalla, N.D., about three kilometres from the Canadian border. RCMP said at the time that he crossed the border near Haskett, Man., during the week of June 24, “before travelling to Winnipeg and possibly eastern Canada.”
Whisenand was living in a tent near the Highway 102-Lacewood Drive off-ramp
“Const. MacDonald asked the male to direct her to where he had been living in a tent prior to taking him to the prisoner care facility,” the report says.
“He pointed out a footpath off the Highway 102 off-ramp to Lacewood where he and his dog have been living in a tent. He advised that another male was living in a tent in the same location, however, refused to identify the male.”
Officers went to the site in the woods that Whisenand directed them to and found a tent with some clothing, dishes, dog food and his dog inside, the report says.
The dog was seized by animal control and Whisenand was taken to HRP headquarters before Canada Border Service Agency officers took him to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside, where he remains.
Since his arrest, Whisenand has had two detention review hearings with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada to determine if he is to be deported.
The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada is to have a 30-day detention review and admissibility hearing of Whisenand, who has refused to participate in the hearings, on Friday.
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