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The brother of the man charged with manslaughter in a Maple Ridge, B.C., homicide in mid-March says that the victim was his friend who just came to help his wife, who was home alone at the time and was scared.
First responders were called to a home on 238th Street and 110th Avenue on March 16 for a report of a fight in progress.
When they arrived, they found a man in medical distress.
Sean Spring, 49, died at the scene.
On March 17, 2026, 45-year-old Darcy Robb was charged with one count of assault causing bodily harm, which was later upgraded to one count of manslaughter.
Kristin Robb told Global News that he was out of town that night, working up north, when his estranged brother, Darcy, showed up at his house.
“I think he had come there four times in the last week, which he doesn’t live there,” he said. “He doesn’t come there. Sometimes he comes back to, you know, get clean and maybe take some clothes or something, which he had kept there too.”
Robb said his brother had also been there the previous week.
“But this time, it was different,” he said. “Darcy, he was, he was definitely more angry and stuff.”
He said his wife had opened the garage door for his brother so he could look for some stuff, but he had just been hanging around in there and had thrown some things around and was ringing the doorbell repeatedly to get his wife to come to the door.
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“But when Sean came in, the only thing I do know is that he asked her, you know, to go in the house, lock the doors, and he was going to help get rid of him, and that’s it,” Robb said.
“I think Darcy had thrown the phone down on the ground, (my wife’s) phone, and she had picked up her stuff, went in the house and locked herself in. So what happened right after that was like a minute. It was really quick, and the police had shown up to the house. I’m not sure how they got there so quick, but yeah, they were within like a minute of of Sean showing up.”
Robb said he is not sure if his brother had a weapon, but his wife had seen him grab a leaf blower.
However, what happened after that is unclear.
“He’s and he always will be my hero,” Robb said of his friend.
He said Spring left behind two really great kids, aged 13 and 11, who are now in the care of Spring’s 78-year-old mother.
Robb also started a GoFundMe to help Spring’s children and mother begin to heal from the tragedy.
Sara Sabyan has known Spring for about 10 years.
She said it has been a blur since her friend died.
I had a complete breakdown, obviously,” she said.
“It still doesn’t feel real, but they say it gets better as time goes on. I’m just waiting for that time. Yeah, he was my best friend.”
Sabyan said she would spend a lot of time at Spring’s house, doing activities with his kids and going on outings together.
“He was an amazing dad,” she said.
“And those kids are so self-sufficient. And, you know, I think that’s his greatest accomplishment that he has ever done in life. And I know he knows that, and I know he is OK with how they are. I just want them to be OK. I worry about them. So, yeah, that’s my biggest worry right now.”
Sabyan said she will miss his friend forever.
“His laugh just echoes through my head constantly throughout the day, all our little jokes and memories. It’s been a hard few weeks to say the least.”
She added that it was no surprise Spring went to help Robb’s wife that day.
“Sean was a firecracker with a beautiful soul; he would give the shirt off his back for anyone,” she said.
“He knew he had to go there. I just wish he was a little bit delayed, because, you know, maybe the situation would have turned out differently.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
