'I just miss him so much,' Selena Lomen told police after stabbing her partner

Selena Lomen remembers stabbing her partner, Danny Klondike, but not what happened immediately before or afterward, according to a statement she made to RCMP. 

Lomen, 23, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Danny Klondike, 34, in Fort Liard, N.W.T., in October 2018. Her trial began in N.W.T. Supreme Court in Yellowknife on Nov. 9.

Lomen has admitted she stabbed Klondike, both to the courts and to Klondike's family in Fort Liard shortly after the incident. 

She also admitted to the killing in a statement made to an officer with the RCMP's Major Crimes Unit later that day. 

"I just miss him so much," Lomen told Const. Matt Halstead, according to a transcript of the conversation submitted by the Crown as evidence. 

Lomen's statement spilled out as Halstead pressed for details on what happened and why, despite the fact that she asked about a dozen times to be taken back to her cell instead of answering. She also said several times she didn't want to talk about it, and three times that her lawyer had told her not to. 

Lomen was warned of her right not to say anything, both by Halstead and by another police officer earlier. "You don't have to talk to me about it and I'm glad that you understand your rights," Halstead said in the transcript. "But Selena, you can choose to talk about it." 

In accepting a statement an accused person makes to police, the judge must first rule whether the statement is admissible, said Lomen's defence lawyer, Peter Harte. 

On Nov. 13, Justice Andrew Mahar ruled the statement was given voluntarily. 

'I don't know why I was mad,' Lomen said

On the night Klondike died, Lomen attended a Halloween party with her partner, but left around 1 a.m., she told Halstead.

"I was going for a walk I think," she said.

Halstead told Lomen that a witness saw her around 3 a.m., and described her as "really angry, very vocal." 

"All I remember is that I was walking around and I was mad about something," Lomen said. "I don't know why I was mad."

When she got home, she found Klondike sleeping on the living room floor with their child. The door was unlocked, she said.

Lomen recalled having "a couple shots" with Klondike's mom, who had been home babysitting, and Klondike's sister, Joanna Klondike. (Klondike's mother, who testified earlier in the trial, did not mention having shots with Lomen. Joanna Klondike also testified and said she didn't remember anything between being at the party and waking up.)

"I think I took off from there," Lomen said, suggesting she left the house again. She was unable to offer any details. 

When she got back home, she said, the door was locked.

"I remember he locked it. I tried to get in but he wouldn't open the door," she said. "I think that's why I got mad, it's because he locked the door." 

'I can't believe I did this,' Lomen told police

Lomen said this is where she "blacked out." The next thing she remembers, she was "sitting on the floor getting mad." 

"But I remember stabbing him," she said. 

She was "pretty sure" it happened on the porch, and that she stabbed him "just once," but couldn't remember getting the knife or where on his body she stabbed Klondike. 

"He didn't deserve this," Lomen then told Halstead. "I don't know why I did it. I don't know why." 

Lomen remembered banging on the neighbour's door to tell them what had happened, and doing the same at Klondike's mother's and then his sister's house before going to the RCMP. 

"I just remember telling his mom that I killed him," she said. "I remember she was getting mad at me." 

Before the interview ended, Lomen said she wanted to see Klondike one more time. 

"I don't think that's something that I can arrange for you," Halstead said. 

"I can't believe I did this," Lomen replied. "It's so stupid."

The trial continues Wednesday and Thursday this week with expert testimony. It's expected to wrap up Nov. 25.