#5 Foerster's murder trial

Photo: Facebook

It seems like just yesterday we were ringing in 2014 and now, we're just days away from saying goodbye.

2014 was an intriguing year in the Okanagan and all of the events, the highs and the lows were chronicled here on Castanet.

The Castanet news team has poured over the thousands of stories we brought you in 2014 and have compiled what we believe are the top 10 stories of the year.

Through to Dec. 31, we'll take a look back at these stories that helped shape our valley, the good and the bad.

Our number 5 story of 2014, Matthew Foerster's murder trial.

The trial only lasted two weeks but it gripped the Okanagan, and specifically the small community of Armstrong, in a way that other court cases could not.

It was the story of a teenager’s life taken away much too soon by a young man who, until that moment, had been an unknown stranger. The attack only took a matter of minutes and left her clinging to life, while he left the province to avoid arrest.

Matthew Foerster was found guilty on April 5 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 25 years.

The family of Taylor Van Diest had been waiting nearly two and a half years for that day to come, when they could finally begin the process of finding closure for the death of their daughter.

The 18-year-old girl had been killed on Halloween night in 2011, while she walked along some railroad tracks on her way to meet up with friends.

Photo: Contributed

Matthew Foerster

Foerster was also on those same tracks, around 6 p.m. that evening, but the public may never know what he was doing there, as he never took the stand in his own defence.

Van Diest was found shortly thereafter, following strange texts to her boyfriend that said she was being “crept on”.

Friends and family, along with a local police officer, found her body in the bushes. She still had a slight pulse, but was suffering from serious injuries. She died shortly thereafter in hospital.

Foerster, 26 at the time, was arrested a few months later in Ontario. His father had helped cover his tracks and sent him across the country to hide from authorities and gain work under a different name.

Matthew’s father Stephen was also sentenced this year to three years in prison, after pleading guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact.

He admitted lying to police about his son’s whereabouts for five months, and acknowledged getting a fake ID for Matthew and coaching him on how to avoid detection in Ontario.

The pair were finally arrested after police tracked cell phone records and traced calls made between the two on pre-paid cell phones.

The younger Foerster recently pleaded guilty and was sentenced for two other assaults against women that took place before Taylor’s death.

In 2004 he broke into a home and attacked a 19-year-old woman, then forced himself on a sex trade worker the following year, while holding a knife to her throat.

He was sentenced to six years on each count, but unless the appeal of his murder conviction is achieved, it will have no impact on his current sentence.

Foerster is not eligible for parole until 2039.