A high-risk offender has been returned to custody in Oshawa, Ontario, following a three-day unescorted release that led to a community safety alert. The Durham Regional Police Service confirmed that 65-year-old Darren Scott Ray was taken back into care on March 5, 2026, without incident.
Ray had been granted a 72-hour permit to be in the community starting on March 2, 2026. He is currently serving a life sentence for the 1986 first-degree murder of 14-year-old Darren Pepin, a high school student who was strangled to death.
The release was part of a temporary absence program managed by Correctional Service Canada, which allows some prisoners to leave a facility without a guard. While these programs are intended to help with rehabilitation, local police issued an alert to the city because of Ray’s history of serious and violent crime.
Community members and local groups like Our Oshawa shared the safety warning throughout the week to keep residents informed. Now that Ray has been returned to prison, the police have officially lifted the alert and confirmed there is no further risk to the public.
