Didsbury resident Allan Berdahl said when he received a phone call on Dec. 17 from the RCMP telling him an arrest had been made in the murder of his son more than eight years ago, he thought it was a scam.
And he was shocked to hear his slain son's friend is the man accused of murdering him.
“It was a strange turn of events because we didn't really suspect anybody and we didn't suspect him because any time we had seen him he was always polite and always nice to us,” said Berdahl.
Forty-nine-year-old Russell Steven Tessier of Calgary has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Allan Gerald Berdahl –known to friends and family as Gerry – whose body was found near a gravel road east of Carstairs on March 16, 2007.
Investigators from the “K” Division RCMP historical homicide unit arrested and charged Tessier on Dec. 17.
Allan and Gerry's stepmother Janet say Tessier was friendly and recalled a time when he brought over coffee and donuts after Allan's mother passed away.
Allan said he feels relieved now that there has been an arrest, even though it's more than eight years later. He is grateful the RCMP units never stopped trying.
“We thought they'd stopped and given up on it but they had been working on it diligently,” he said, adding he can't thank them enough.
“They made it happen.”
Allan said after the murder in 2007 he became worried for his other three children – a son and two daughters – because he didn't know who the killer was or what they were after.
“We were always fearful when they went out that something would happen to them,” said Janet.
“In a lot of ways this now brings relief and gives us a bit of closure. It was frustrating because after a time period you feel like this is never going to be solved, this person has gotten away with it.
“We did lose hope. In fact we hadn't heard anything for the last two years and we just thought it's a cold case, it's not going to get solved. And then out of the blue we got the phone call.”
Allan said he didn't always have the best relationship with his son, although it was getting better before he died. The last time he saw him was a week before he died when they went to the Legion together in Calgary.
“We sat down and had a couple of drinks, reminisced, did some talking, father-son type stuff. It wasn't very often we did that,” he said.
“Last thing I saw was when I was driving away and I could see in my rearview mirror him going across the street to where he was staying at that time. That was the last time I saw him.”
He remembers feeling shocked, surprised, sad and mad after finding out his son had been murdered.
“All these emotions just run through your head. And the biggest one was why, who and what was the reason for it all. It shouldn't have happened,” he said.
“It's hard to understand what goes through a person's mind when they decide they're going to take a life. And that's not ours to determine. We're just happy that the case has been solved and hopefully justice will be served,” added Janet.
Gerry got a new job in Winnipeg and was getting ready to head there at the time he was killed near Carstairs.
He was born and raised in Calgary, was the oldest of four, worked in mechanics, loved karaoke and wanted to be a chef at one point.
But they say he went a different direction when he got older and got involved with different people. They were hoping his new job would steer him in the right direction.
“Was he a perfect kid? No. And we're not going to glorify him as being, you know, the college preppy kid. He wasn't. He had his issues and he had his problems at the time that he died and we have to kind of accept that that would have been something that may have lead to his death,” said Allan.
He said in a way he feels like he failed and has always wondered if there was something he could have done to prevent his son's death.
“The saddest part about this whole thing right now is that it's not just Gerry that was a victim; it's us and the whole family, because we've got to live through this thing again,” he said.
“And now Russ' family has got to go through and live through this whole process. They're victims of the whole thing as well as to what took place back then.”
He said they plan to attend as many court dates as possible and want answers.
Allan Berdahl,father of murder victim
"All these emotions just run through your head. And the biggest one was why, who and what was the reason for it all. It shouldn't have happened."
