A man who is a person of interest in the murder of Michael Donald Amy of Abbotsford is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, police announced today.
Donald Lyle Salahub, 44, is wanted for violating his parole when he disappeared from a halfway house in February.
Sgt. Stephanie Ashton, media relations officer for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT), said investigators have determined that Salahub is a person of interest in Amy's death and might have information that could help solve the murder.
Amy (in photo below), 34, was found dead in a vehicle in the 9500 block of 139 Street in Surrey on Friday, Feb. 27. Police have not released his cause of death.
Ashton said Salahub has connections across western Canada and has previously had dealings with police in the B.C. interior. He is originally from Manitoba.
Court records indicate Salahub was sentenced to six years in prison in 2007 in Calgary for two incidents resulting in numerous charges, including dangerous driving, a hit-and-run, impaired driving, theft of a vehicle, credit card theft and the assault of five police officers.
In one of the incidents, Salahub was stopped in a stolen vehicle, fled from police, carjacked a second vehicle, and then hit a police car that was pursuing him.
Salahub continued to speed away, veering into the path of oncoming traffic and forcing cars onto the sidewalk and pedestrians to scurry out of his path.
Police called off the pursuit, and Salahub eventually abandoned the vehicle, in which police found numerous items linked to property crimes in Calgary, including stolen credit cards.
In the second incident, police found an impaired Salahub in the driver's seat of a stolen vehicle, and he pushed an officer who woke him.
He then sped away from the scene, resulting in another police pursuit before he pulled over. Officers who attempted to detain him were punched and hit by Salahub, and were then pinned between a police car and the car that Salahub was in.
The two officers were dragged along the police vehicle as Salahub drove away. He was soon blocked in by other police cars and, after a foot chase, it took several officers to physically restrain and arrest him.
Police later learned that Salahub had hit another moving vehicle that day and had left the scene.
A court document from his 2007 sentencing indicated that Salahub had seven prior impaired-driving convictions, eight convictions for driving while disqualified, 10 for theft and possession of stolen property, and several for evading the police.
The document indicates that "in addition to his alcohol dependence and cocaine abuse, he was diagnosed as having an antisocial personality disorder."
Salahub was given credit for the two and a half years he had served in prison before sentencing, leaving him with another three and a half years.
In Kelowna in 2011, he was arrested and charged for allegedly driving recklessly around the city before trying to carjack three vehicles and to steal police vehicles.
Most recently, Salahub appeared in Vancouver provincial court on charges of fraud under $5,000 and theft under $5,000.
He was found guilty on both counts in November and sentenced to six months in prison.
Salahub is 5' 11", over 200 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call the IHIT tipline at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448), email ihittipline@rcmp-grc.gc.ca or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-880-222-8477.