A noted former Prince George couple was found dead in a beach-front home in the Victoria area Tuesday afternoon.
Kathy Mueller, 67, was a school board trustee in Prince George from 1990 to 1996 and Erich Mueller, 73, was a planner at city hall for about a decade.
Their bodies were found in their Cadboro Bay home in Saanich, their son Tien Mueller confirmed, saying he got the call from his sister Tuesday, the day before his birthday.
He said he last spoke to his parents at Christmas and they were happy, enjoying travelling and semi-retirement.
"They knew a lot of people in the community," Tien said. "They have a rental house here still and they have good friends [in Prince George]."
Investigators are treating the case as a possible homicide, but do not have anyone in police custody. Saanich police were called to a house at 3931 Cadboro Bay Rd., at the corner of Telegraph Bay Road, about 3 p.m.
Saanich police Sgt. Dean Jantzen told the Victoria Times-Colonist Wednesday no one is in police custody and investigators are not looking for anybody, however he refused to say if the deaths are a possible murder-suicide.
Long-time school board trustee Lois Boone remembered Kathy as a good friend and a strong supporter of the New Democratic Party.
"She worked for the party here, I know she worked for the party in Victoria as well, but both she and Erich were very gentle people," Boone said shortly after learning the news from a colleague on the Island.
"They were both very quiet, very gentle, not the sort of persons you would expect this to happen to."
Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond, also sat on the school board at the same time Kathy Mueller was a trustee, said she was shocked and saddened.
"Kathy and I were school trustees together for about four years in the mid-1990s. Interestingly, both our husbands worked for the city at that time, so we were connected on a couple of levels," Bond said.
"Kathy had concerns and interest in working on youth-at-risk and multicultural issues. She was a dedicated, hard-working trustee who wasn't afraid to express her views.
"Bill and I are deeply saddened and shocked as we remember our connections. We feel very sad about whatever tragedy has taken place here."
Former head city engineer Bob Radloff described Erich, who earned a degree in civil engineering, as very conscientious and ethical.
"I didn't supervise him too long but he was a good engineer and, of course, it's unfortunate about the circumstance," Radloff said.
According to the couple's profile on a vacation rental website, Kathy Mueller was described as a career counsellor and former teacher who grew up in Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Erich Mueller, a retired civil engineer, was born in Saskatchewan.
The couple travelled often, typically to the United States, Europe and China where Kathy Mueller worked as a teacher. Kathy also taught adults in the First Nations village of Gingolx, in northern B.C. near the Alaska Panhandle.
According to a biography on the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association website, they had lived in Powell River and then Terrace, where they ran a hobby farm, before moving to Prince George ini 1986.
The couple is also survived by daughters Kirsten and Heidi. Tien, 38, lives in Prince George, Kirsten, 41, lives in Abbotsford and Heidi, 40, lives in Cadboro Bay.
- with files from Bernice Trick
