A preliminary inquiry has been scheduled for three days next year for a Montrose man accused of murdering his estranged wife.
Donald James Danchella will return to court on Dec. 11 for a pre-trial conference. A hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to send the matter to trial will then be held Feb. 23-25, 2026 in Rossland.
Danchella, who was born in 1977, has been in custody since Nov. 4, 2024. On that day, police were called to a home in Montrose about a man assaulting a woman on the front lawn. Lindsay Christine Danchella, 44, died in hospital.
According to her obituary, Lindsay Danchella was survived by her young son, her mother, sister, and other family. She was raised in Richmond and obtained a nursing degree and bachelor of science.
She moved to Montrose in 2018 and became the patient care co-ordinator of the surgical unit at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital. She was later community care co-ordinator for Trail home health services.
The BC Nurses Union held a memorial march in her honour, coinciding with the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
Donald Danchella was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the charge has since been upgraded to first-degree murder. While both first and second-degree murder are punishable by life imprisonment, first-degree comes with an automatic minimum of 25 years before parole.
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