A British Columbia man who went missing nearly 15 years ago while facing multiple allegations of sexual abuse has been declared dead by a court – which concluded he likely died when a fire ravaged the airplane hangar where he was last seen.

Last week, a judge determined it was more likely than not that Vernon Martin died in the Prince George fire on Dec. 19, 2009, making a declaration that will allow payment of 16 life insurance policies valued at millions of dollars.

Two days before Martin was last seen, family members confronted him with multiple allegations that “he had engaged in acts of sexual misconduct with male extended family members, approximately 20 years previously, when the family members were teenagers,” according to the British Columbia Supreme Court decision.

Family members told the court that Martin “did not deny the allegations but attempted to explain them away and downplay them.” Martin also told his siblings that he had been sued by two of the men and was in talks to settle the suits.

The day Martin was last seen, he was visited by a longtime employee and his wife.

“They were extremely angry and confronted Vernon with allegations that he had engaged in sexual misconduct with their son when he was a teenager. They threatened to call the police and have him arrested. The couple’s son, now an adult, wanted to meet Vernon that evening,” the court ruling states.

Shortly after, Martin left his sister’s house, where he was staying, to go to the shed. An hour later, firefighters were dispatched to the building. A witness saw Martin enter the building and no one saw him leave.

The hangar caught fire shortly before 3 p.m. on Saturday December 19, 2009.

The cause and origin of the fire were never determined but the building was destroyed.

“Very few parts of the building did not burn in some way,” said an RCMP report released the day after the fire, cited in the decision. “The scene is a large pile of dangerous debris still on fire, quickly covered in ice and snow. »

Martin’s body was never found, but the court was satisfied by expert testimony that the nature and extent of the damage caused by the fire, as well as the impact of firefighting efforts at the scene, could have led to the “dispersal of his charred remains in the rubble”. field.”

A search of Martin’s car found his briefcase inside, containing all of his credit cards, identification and wedding ring. A fireproof safe recovered from the hangar office found a note attached to Martin’s most recent will – dated three days before his disappearance.

“I don’t know how to say “I’M SORRY” loud enough for what I did to all of you. I hope you can find somewhere in your heart the ability to forgive me. I don’t want a funeral of any kind. Please just cremate me and throw away my ashes,” the letter reads in part.

“I am a very bad person. I don’t really know why I did what I did. I can’t give a direct answer (?). I start out with good intentions but I push everything too far. Please forgive me if you can.

The court considered whether Martin may have staged his own disappearance, but found no evidence that he had fled town, no activity on his credit cards or bank accounts, and no indication that he had enough money. hidden money to survive or a plan to start a new life. under a false identity.

“I accept that there was a reason on Vernon’s part to disappear in light of the disclosure of the historical allegations of sexual misconduct,” the judge wrote.

“Obviously, the revelations made to his family upset him. However, rather than establishing his own disappearance, the letter found in the fireproof safe in the hangar debris field is more convincing and confirms that Vernon did not want to disappear but wanted to end his life.

The judge stressed that the law does not require the court to determine how a person died, only to be satisfied that a death occurred, on the balance of probabilities.

Martin was not criminally charged before his disappearance, but he was charged in Alberta with two counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency in 2010.