Ray and Helen Hughes have lived with the horror of finding their 16-year-old daughter Brenda's body for over three decades.

The grim discovery they made in their Cranbrook home in December 1984 has been seared into their memories forever.

And now, 35 years later, it’s once again been resurrected as they learned their daughter’s convicted killer, Terrence Wayne Burlingham, has been granted temporary leave from his Mission prison cell for the first time.

“You never forget. You never get over it. Times like this it just opens up the wound again,” said Ray Hughes from their home in Winnipeg.

Brenda Hughes wasn’t Burlingham’s only victim.

In October 1984, he sexually assaulted, shot and killed 19-year-old Denean Worms. Parole Board of Canada documents describe both cases as “cold-blooded, execution-style killings.”

Worms’ uncle Jim Ramsay remembers going with her grandfather to identify the body of a young woman he said was “always happy, always smiling”.

“It’s endless. It’s daily. And it’s a pain you truly can’t explain,” Ramsay told CTV News from Fort McMurray, Alta. “There is no peace in this situation. There will never be peace.”

Burlingham is serving a life sentence for Hughes’ first-degree murder, and a 10-year-sentence for Worms’ killing, for which he eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the case was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1995 on a Charter violation.

A parole board decision shows he was denied both full parole and day parole in August 2017, after the board found “either form of parole would result in an undue risk to society.”

Records show the board also denied Burlingham what are known as Escorted Temporary Absences (ETAs) in March 2018, then denied his appeal of that decision in August of last year.

That's why when both families received a notice in the mail that Burlingham would be permitted to leave the Mission Institution at least four times in September 2019, they were shocked.

“There is no reason for an individual who has absolutely no remorse, has never been sorry, should ever see the light of day,” Worms’ uncle Jim Ramsay said.

“He should not be out on the streets, period, for what he did to those two girls,” Helen Hughes said.

Neither the parole board nor Correctional Service Canada (CSC) would provide CTV News with the latest decision and the reasons behind it, though CSC said in a statement, “Temporary releases may be granted when it is considered that the inmate will not … present a risk to society during the absence.”

The Hughes family said they had asked for an explanation of what had changed in the past year, but did not receive one.

“They just tell us it’s none of our business,” Ray Hughes said.

The notice mailed to Ray and Helen Hughes outlined Burlingham would be allowed out for “personal development” purposes on Sept. 9, 12, 19, and 26 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Abbotsford area.

It details a number of conditions that the convicted killer must adhere to, which include remaining under close supervision of his escort, no drug or alcohol possession, and no direct or indirect contact with family members of his victims.

Lisa Saether, Regional Manager of Community Relations and Training for the parole board told CTV News ETAs might include substance abuse treatment, such as Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, counselling sessions and spiritual and cultural ceremonies.

Now, the families of both Brenda Hughes and Denean Worms say they’re worried Burlingham might escape his escort, who could be a correctional officer or a volunteer, and that he might commit new crimes.

“The most important thing out of all of this is public safety,” Jim Ramsay said. “The only way to make that happen is to keep him in jail.”

“I could never forgive him,” Helen Hughes said. “I am a very forgiving person, but I cannot forgive him what he did to us.”

“She just loved life,” Ray Hughes said of their 16-year-old daughter Brenda. “And yet, it was snuffed out so early.”