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Man who raped and murdered 14-year-old boy in 1986 given unescorted leave from prison
A man convicted for the 1986 rape and murder of a 14-year-old boy has been given three 72-hour unescorted temporary absences from prison by the Parole Board of Canada.
The decision caused Durham Police to issue a warning to the public about his presence in Oshawa, Ont., while the area’s Member of Parliament is calling for an “urgent review” of Canada’s parole and release processes by the House of Commons.
Darren Scott Ray, 65, was given a life sentence in 1987 for the murder of 14-year-old high school student Darren Pepin. News reports at the time said Ray tortured, sodomized and strangled his victim and threw the boy’s body in the garbage room of his high-rise apartment.
“I’m so relieved that man got what he had coming to him,” Sarah Pepin, the boy’s mother, was quoted as saying in 1987.
“It still doesn’t bring a son back,” she added. “Justice has been done. It’s been a nightmare.”
In a decision released in January and obtained by National Post, the Parole Board said a psychological risk assessment last fall found Ray to be in “the high-moderate to high range of risk for violent recidivism.”
The board said it first authorized an escorted temporary absence (ETA) in March 2015 and again in November 2015 to allow Ray to visit aging parents before they passed away. “Both were completed without issue,” it noted.
Then in November 2017, it approved another ETA “for personal development for rehabilitative purposes, to participate in a pipe ceremony.” A further application was turned down.
The Board also noted that Ray had been denied full parole on Dec. 5, 2022. The Board told him the decision was made “after considering all your circumstances, concluding that you had no release plan, and your risk would not be manageable.”
The decision listed recommendations from the Correctional Service of Canada. “CSC recommends the Board authorize the three proposed 72-hour UTAs (unsupervised temporary absences) as your risk is assessed as manageable in the context of the UTAs, there is a structured plan, you have demonstrated positive institutional behaviour which does not preclude your absences, and the UTAs are the next step in your gradual and structured reintegration.”
It added that the CSC recommended certain conditions: no contact with victim’s family, no use of alcohol or drugs, no contact with criminals, no contact with children and to report all relationships, whether sexual or non-sexual.
The first UTA took place at the beginning of the month in Oshawa, Ont., prompting Durham Regional Police to issue a warning to the public “about a high-risk offender who has been released into the community.”
“This individual has a history of serious criminal convictions including first degree murder,” police said. They added that Ray “poses a significant risk to the community. He is described as male, Indigenous, 5’9″ tall, 199 lbs, average build. He is bald and wears glasses.”
Police said they would monitor Ray’s whereabouts and activities, and gave the public a contact number to call with information about him.
Rhonda Kirkland, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Oshawa, then posted a petition stating: “Residents, police and victims’ rights advocates were shocked that a high-risk sex offender and murderer was released unescorted into Oshawa. It remains unclear how or why the federal Correctional Service and Parole Board granted this pass.”
She is urging the House of Commons Committee on Public Safety and National Security to undertake an urgent review of Canada’s parole and release processes, adding: “This review would require officials from the Correctional Service and Parole Board to provide answers to federal legislators.”
The petition has almost 5,000 signatures.
Ray’s release decision runs 12 pages and notes that he presents a high risk for violence against an intimate partner. It also says a psychological risk assessment dated Oct. 22, 2025, found Ray to be “in the average range of risk for sexual recidivism, the high-moderate to high range of risk for violent recidivism, and the high end of the moderate range of risk for general recidivism, when all of the variables are considered.”
However, the decision also lists mitigating factors, noting that according to the current Correctional Plan Update dated Oct. 31, 2025, “your accountability and reintegration potential are assessed as medium, and your motivation level is high.”
It adds: “At the hearing, however, you were not really able to discuss relevant aspects of your history in any depth, skating lightly on pertinent areas such as your violence and aggression and sexual offending. You continue to hold distortions about your sexual assault of the victim that included bondage, the infliction of pain and the use of ligatures, indicating to the Board that the sex was ‘consensual at the time, but no more.’ It is evident you were not attuned to the fact that the 14-year-old could not consent, and that even assuming minority were not an issue and there was consent, it could be withdrawn at any moment.”
However, it concludes: “Following its risk balancing of aggravating and mitigating factors, the Board finds that you will not present an undue risk to society for these three limited UTAs.”
It adds that the three 72-hour UTAs are to be taken over a 12-month period.
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