Thompson, Manitoba — Bernie and Elva Carson were asleep on October 26, 2007 when their dog started barking and Bernie got up to investigate. He was shot in his own home by an unknown intruder in the middle of the night.
The RCMP's historical case unit says Carlson's murder, which took place in Eastwood area of Thompson around 1 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2007, has haunted investigators.
"Here was a guy, asleep in his home, and seconds later, he was dead," said Sgt. Dan Barnabe, head of the historical case unit in a Nov. 3, 2017 press release. "Investigators at the time did everything they could, and now it sits with my team, who specialize in investigating historical homicides. We need to find out what happened to Mr. Carlson."
Bernard Carlson and Elva Carlson, his wife of 40 years, had gone to bed Oct. 25, 2007 with their home's front and back doors locked and one light left on. The couple's dog Missy started barking around 1 a.m., awakening them, and Bernard Carlson went to see what was the matter. Suddenly, Elva heard gunshots and footsteps running away and, when she went to the bedroom door, her husband was lying in the hallway, shot. She hid in the bedroom and called police, who arrived to find the front door forcibly opened and Bernie Carlson dead.
"I relive that night over and over," said Elva Carlson. "I want to know who did this. I want to know why they did this. Somebody knows what happened that night, and I beg them to come forward to the police."
Bernard Carlson left behind not only his wife but also two adult sons, one of whom realized a dream of becoming an RCMP officer at the age of 40, a few years after his father's death.
Sean Carlson told the Thompson Citizen in 2016 that he would like answers in his father's killing as well.
"I miss him a lot," Sean Carlson said at that time. "It's never far from my thoughts at all. There isn't a single day that goes by that I don't think about it. I don't let it dominate my thoughts, I don't let it control my life. For the family, for myself as a person, I'd love to see an end to it, to have some amount of closure. Whether or not we get that remains to be seen. I hold a lot of hope and faith that someday someone will be arrested and charged and convicted and I firmly do believe that that day will come but we have to wait and see. If somebody does know something, by all means contact the Thompson RCMP. Let them take a look at it. Maybe it is nothing, maybe it's the golden key that breaks it open."
Anyone with information about the death of Bernard Carlson 13 years ago can call the RCMP historical Crime Unit at 204-983-6880 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
