Trial of Cody Legebokoff
The trial of Cody Legebokoff is a 2014 criminal case in the British Columbia Supreme Court that convicted Cody Alan Legebekoff (born c. 1990) of murdering three women and a teenage girl between 2009 and 2010 in or near the City of Prince George, British Columbia. The trial of one of Canada's youngest serial killers[1] drew national attention.[2]
Contents
2010 arrest
On November 27, 2010 a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer observed Legebokoff pull his truck onto British Columbia Highway 27 from a remote logging road. According to a case report prepared by the officer, he suspected Legebokoff of poaching and signaled for it to pull over. After being joined by a second officer and approaching the vehicle, the officers say they noticed Legebokoff had blood smears on his face and chin, blood on his legs and saw a pool of blood on the driver's mat.[3] Searching the pickup truck, the officers claim they discovered a multi-tool and wrench covered in blood, as well as a monkey backpack and a wallet containing a children's hospital card with the name of Loren Leslie on it. When questioned about the blood on him, Legebokoff purportedly stated that he was poaching and had clubbed a deer to death because "I’m a redneck, that’s what we do for fun."[4]
The officers arrested Legebokoff under the Canada Wildlife Act and called for a conservation officer. The conservation officer retraced the tire tracks of Legebokoff's vehicle. According to police, the tracks led to the body of Loren Donn Leslie.[4] After his arrest in connection with the death of Leslie, he was linked by DNA to the deaths of Jill Stacey Stuchenko, Cynthia Frances Maas and Natasha Lynn Montgomery.[5]
Perpetrator
Cody Legebokoff is a Canadian citizen who was raised in Fort St. James, a district municipality in rural British Columbia. He has been described by friends and family members as a popular young man who competed in ice hockey and showed no propensity for violence.[6] Though Legebokoff had a minor criminal record, he was not "on the radar" of local police.[7]
After graduating Fort St. James Secondary School, Legebokoff lived briefly in Lethbridge, before moving to Prince George. There, he shared an apartment with three close female friends and worked as a mechanic at a Ford dealership. In his spare time Legebokoff frequented the Canadian social-networking site Nexopia, using the handle "1CountryBoy."[8]
Victims
In addition to Leslie, police allege Legebokoff is responsible for the murders of:
- Jill Stacey Stuchenko,
- Natasha Lynn Montgomery,
- Cynthia Frances Maas and
- Loren Leslie.[9]
Jill Stuchenko, 35-year-old mother of five, was last seen on October 9, 2009 and found dead four days later in a gravel pit on the outskirts of Prince George, British Columbia.[10]
Natasha Montgomery, 23, was last seen August 31 or early September 1, 2010. Her body has never been found but her DNA was later found in samples taken in Legebokoff's apartment.[10]
Cynthia Maas, 35, was last seen September 10, 2010 and her body was found in a Prince George park the following month. Maas, died of blunt-force trauma to the head and penetrating wounds. She had a hole in her shoulder blade, a broken jaw and cheekbone, and injuries to her neck consistent with someone stomping on it.[10]
The Crown has said Stuchenko, Montgomery and Maas had worked in the sex trade and that Legebokoff was addicted to cocaine and used sex workers to get him the drug.[4]
Loren Leslie, 15, is something of an outlier, as she was far younger than the other victims and allegedly met Mr. Legebokoff online at the website Nexopia. Leslie was legally blind, having one completely blind eye and only 50% vision in the other.[11] She was murdered on November 27, 2010. Cody was caught peeling out of an old logging road late at night. An officer pulled Cody over because it was odd and even suspicious that someone would be on that road in the middle of the night in frigid November. Cody is found to have blood on his clothing and when asked to explain he claims he was poaching deer. But there wasn't a deer carcass with him and later a conservation officer found Leslie's body along that same road. He was charged with her murder.[12]
Trial proceedings
Legebokoff's trial on four counts of murder was originally scheduled to begin in September 2013 but was delayed a month until October and then again until June 2014. Legebokoff pleaded not guilty to all four counts of murder.[13] The judge and 12 jurors heard testimony from 93 Crown witnesses and the defendant.[1]
Legebokoff testified during the trial that he was "involved" in three of the deaths but claimed that he did not actually commit the killings. He alleged that a drug dealer and two accomplices, whom he would only name as "X, Y and Z", were the actual murderers.[14] Prosecutors did not accept this attempt to plead guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder.
Outcomes
Verdict
Legebokoff was convicted on four counts of first-degree murder on September 11, 2014.[15]
Sentencing
On September 16, 2014, Legebokoff was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Glen Parrett also added him to the national sex offender registry given the sexual assaults committed as part of the murders and Legebokoff's apparent degradation of the victims' bodies. "He lacks any shred of empathy or remorse," Parrett said of the killer. "He should never be allowed to walk among us again."[16]
Appeal
In February 2015, Legebokoff filed an appeal due to decisions against change of venue and defendant's legal representation.[17]
References
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