An online petition to deny parole for a convicted mass murderer is online and an Alberta family is hoping you'll sign it.

It happened in 1982, the families were reported missing on August 23, 1982, when Bob Johnson failed to show up for work, after a camping trip in British Columbia. 

An extensive search was launched and on September 13, the Johnson family car was found burned on a mountainside logging road. Inside the car were remains of the four adults and in the trunk, two young girls. 

Investigators eventually honed-in on 24-year-old David William Shearing who lived at the nearest property to the murder scene. 

Shearing eventually confessed that he shot the four adults and the two girls, then placed their bodies in the vehicle and set it on fire. It was eventually revealed that the motive was not robbery as he first claimed but that he had been fixated on the girls and had killed the adults in order to kidnap the young girls, who he held for a week, sexually assaulting them repeatedly before eventually killing them as well. 

David Shearing (now David Ennis since he changed his name) was denied parole in, 2008, 2012 and withdrew his application in 2014 when the first petition was launched and can continue to apply every 2 years. He has now filed again but a petition on the website Change.org, says a hearing has been set for July 2021. 

If successful that would mean Ennis would be allowed to live in the community under certain conditions.

Tammy Arishenkoff who started this new petition, was childhood friends with Janet and Karen, the young girls that were murdered. She hopes to get as many signatures as possible. 

“Because of COVID, we don't know what the hearing is going to look like in July," 

They would normally show up with a paper petition but because of restrictions, they are doing it online instead. 

Since being incarcerated in Alberta, Ennis has not only changed his name but also gotten married to a woman in the province. If he gets full parole he could be released close to the area and that's the biggest fear for Kristal Woolf who is the niece and cousin to the murdered family and now lives in Airdrie,

"This person could be living near us, I have children, I do not want him near my children, I do not want him near anyone's children, so I feel like I want to ignite Alberta to realize what could happen if we don't wake up and fight this."

She goes on to say she wants Albertans to get involved and become a part of the army to help stop a mass murder from getting out and becoming a part of their community.

They also worked to push through legislation to change the parole reviews from every two years to five, giving family and friends a chance to rest before having to start all over again, which went through in 2016.

You can sign the petition HERE.