Bombing suspect placed Craigslist prostitute ad, says neighbour
The woman charged in the Canada Day bombing plot at the B.C. legislature was once suspected by her neighbours of advertising as a prostitute on Craigslist, CBC News has learned.
Amada Marie Korody, who is either 28 or 29, and her partner John Stewart Nutall, 38, are alleged to have turned ordinary pressure cookers into improvised explosive devices filled with rusted nails, nuts, bolts and washers and attempted to detonate them on the legislature grounds during celebrations on Monday.
Residents of a Victoria apartment building say when the couple lived in the building in 2010, there were complaints about noise and drug use.
In 2010, the building manager suspected Korody was working as a prostitute in the couple's apartment. One source, who did not want to be identified, said he offered to help find out by posing as a potential client.
Korody responded by emailing him her body measurements, rates and a collection of pictures, including some that were very sexually explicit, he said.
She proposed a time, gave an address in the building, and signed off as Amber, but used an email account that revealed her real name and another username she used in other online postings — PirateNinjaCat.
The neighbour says he then confronted Korody at the door of her apartment, where she broke into tears. The couple moved out shortly afterwards without any eviction notice, he said.
Korody was never charged for prostitution related offences and she does not have a criminal record.
Attempted to turn life around
After the pair moved to Surrey, they met Ashley Volpatti, who says she thought they were "street kids" who were trying to turn their lives around.
Volpatti described Korody and Nuttall as "really, really nice people" who had converted to Islam and were attending a local mosque.
"Before they turned Muslim they were street punks. That's what they were," Volpatti said earlier this week.
When their Surrey landlord opened up their basement suite earlier this week there was also indications — in the form of methadone prescriptions — that at least one of them may have been trying to kick a drug addiction.
Volpatti, who became friends with the couple, also says their conversion to Islam may have also helped them quit drinking.
"They did for a while and they stopped, and they kind of stopped drinking and that was that," said Volpatti.
Friends who remember Amanda from years ago say it's hard to believe she is now charged with attempting to bomb the Canada Day celebrations in Victoria.
"She was the kind of person that made her friends her family and we all loved her for it. That's the person I think I know Korody to be," recalled high school friend Jeffery Rossetto earlier this week.
Volpatti says she was friends with Nuttall and Korody until about six months ago when the pair's behaviour suddenly changed.
On Tuesday, the RCMP announced the pair were facing three charges each of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity and possession of an explosive substance.