A 71-year-old convicted murderer has died in custody in a federal prison in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, according to the Correctional Service of Canada. Dale Robert Marsh—an inmate at the Pacific Institution’s Regional Treatment Centre in Abbotsford—died on Sept. 23 “of apparent natural causes,” the service said in a statement Monday. At the time of his death, Marsh had been serving a life sentence since Oct. 10, 1995, the CSC said. The service did not share any additional information on the cause of death or the circumstances of Marsh’s underlying offence in its statement. Asked by CTV News to confirm the offence Marsh was convicted of, the CSC confirmed it was second-degree murder. Notably, a 71-year-old man named Dale Robert Marsh was the subject of a news release from the Winnipeg Police Service earlier this year. In that July 1 statement, the WPS said its officers had responded to a report of a robbery at a financial institution in the Sturgeon Creek area two days earlier, on June 29. “At approximately 10:30 a.m., an adult male attended a financial institution in the 3200 block of Portage Avenue, where he passed a note to staff containing demands, including a threat that he was armed,” the release reads. “After receiving property from staff, the suspect fled in a taxicab.” Officers located the suspect a short time later and took him into custody without incident, police said. The arrested man was charged with armed robbery using a firearm, possession of a scheduled substance, specifically fentanyl, and a warrant for apprehension and suspension of parole/statutory release, according to the WPS. CTV News asked the CSC to confirm that the Dale Robert Marsh arrested in Winnipeg earlier this year is the same man who died in prison last week, but the federal agency declined to do so. The CSC referred questions about any recent convictions for robbery, drug possession or breaching parole on the deceased inmate’s record to the Parole Board of Canada. CTV News has reached out to the parole board. This story will be updated if a response is received. In its statement, the CSC said Marsh’s next of kin has been notified of his death. “As in all cases involving the death of an inmate, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) will review the circumstances,” the statement concludes. “CSC policy requires that the police and the coroner be notified.”
