Southern Alberta couple’s retirement dreams destroyed by vandals

A southern Alberta couple’s dreams are in shambles after vandals almost completely destroyed what was to be their retirement home.

At the end of June, Dean and Lorrenda Southern were preparing to move their house from its location in Brooks to where it now sits on a site just east of Drumheller, on a small acreage.

The house had been lifted onto the mover’s framework and was ready to be transported to its new location on the last day of June.

That weekend also marked the couple’s 35th wedding anniversary, so they headed to Saskatchewan for a romantic two-day getaway.

On their way home, they got a call from a friend.

The RCMP say Dean and Lorrenda Southern’s home “was damaged so much that it was not suitable for forensic identification services to attend.”

“He said, ‘There’s been some damage to some of the windows in your house.’ So we kept driving and I thought well, OK, (it can) be easily fixed. And then we had another phone call and said, ‘There’s been a lot of debris thrown out of the house.’ And I thought, well, that’s not so easy to fix,” Dean said.

“Then, I called and sent a friend over to look and he went in, and he said, ‘Dean, your whole house has been destroyed.’ I just was overwhelmed … overcome with grief.”

Gaping holes have been punched through every wall.

Some appear to have been kicked with such force that a foot completely penetrated from one room to another.

Every bathroom is smashed.

The sinks are reduced to shards of porcelain and the toilets are shattered heaps.

The doors on washing machines and dryers have been twisted off.

Interior doors have been completely torn off their hinges.

The vandals even targeted the split-level home’s two furnaces and its air conditioner, smashing and denting them.

The RCMP say Dean and Lorrenda Southern’s home “was damaged so much that it was not suitable for forensic identification services to attend.”

Dean says the intensity of the destruction seems personally motivated, though the longtime pastor cannot fathom why he and Lorrenda are targets.

“The more I reflect on it, the more it does (seem personal). Someone defecated with fecal material in my bathtub. I mean, that, to me, that’s a very personal thing. It’s making a statement,” Dean said.

“Why would people want to be doing this to anyone? For anyone, this is an awful thing to happen. Then when you think this is actually happening to you, it takes a step even beyond awful.”

“One of the most painful things is going back to that day of hearing about it,” said Lorrenda, who has made a career counselling others.

“And I’ve helped them through panic attacks and stuff, but I’ve never experienced that. Then I did. I needed to stop the vehicle and to go for a walk and to breathe, just to believe how could this actually be happening to us.”

Compounding their problems is the fact insurance will not cover their losses.

Once the house was on the mover’s framework, the couple’s home insurance was vacated.

The mover’s insurance kicked in at that point.

“So as we were driving home, the day we heard about this, I called my house mover and I said, ‘Boy, we’re really going to need that insurance. Because it’s been damaged. The house has been damaged by vandalism,” Dean said.

“And he said, ‘Oh, it’s only structural insurance, Dean. It’s not vandalism insurance.’ So it was at that point I realized, I’ve gotten no coverage. I’ve got no insurance on any of this.”

The Southerns were also arranging a small mortgage to renovate the home after it was set in place but Monday, they got a call from their bank advising them that the level of damage likely means the property no longer qualifies for the loan.

The RCMP say Dean and Lorrenda Southern’s home “was damaged so much that it was not suitable for forensic identification services to attend.”

Damage to the home is estimated at $150,000.

While they are receiving some help from generous tradespeople and members of their church, the Southerns have been forced to try and raise reconstruction funds on social media.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to raise money for the repairs.

The RCMP says it has no suspects identified in the investigation.

In a written statement to CTV News Calgary, a spokesperson said, “The house was damaged so much that it was not suitable for forensic identification services to attend.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Brooks RCMP or Crime Stoppers.