An inmate serving time at Abbotsford’s Matsqui Institution for first-degree murder has died of apparent natural causes, according to Correctional Service Canada.
Russell John Oram was convicted 30 years ago for the slaying of 22-year-old Debbie Anne Sammon. He was 28 when he was sentenced. He died on Oct. 27.
“At the time of his death, the inmate had been serving an indeterminate sentence for first-degree murder since June 6, 1991,” says an Oct. 29 CSC press release. “The inmate’s next of kin has been notified.”
Sammon had been celebrating a birthday party in a Ladner pub, and was seen talking to Oram, according to Vancouver Sun archives. Her body was found the next day in a ditch with 22 stab wounds, her hands tied with wire.
CSC will review the circumstances of his death and a coroner has been notified, as CSC policy dictates with the death of any inmate.
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