Selena Lomen and Danny Klondike were 'having a good time' before stabbing

Selena Lomen and Danny Klondike were wearing costumes and drinking shots together at a 2018 Saturday night Halloween party in Fort Liard the night before Lomen stabbed him to death. 

That's according to testimony from Dolan Klondike, Danny Klondike's older brother, which was given on day two of Lomen's trial for second-degree murder in Yellowknife. 

Dolan said he'd had four or five beers and several shots of vodka before going to the party around 10 p.m. He estimates he had another 12 beers and a few more shots at the party. 

But he remembers seeing both Lomen and Danny Klondike, who he said were "having fun," like everybody else at the party. 

On the witness stand, Dolan admitted that his brother had told him, about a month before the stabbing, that he'd had to prevent Lomen from ending her life by throwing herself in the river. 

Danny and Dolan's sister, Joanna Klondike was also at the party.

"The house was packed," she told the court from the witness stand. Everybody, including Lomen and Danny Klondike, was "having a good time," she said.

Joanna Klondike drank shots with Lomen and Danny Klondike. She also saw the pair smoking pot (though Joanna Klondike abstained). 

Both Joanna Klondike and Dolan Klondike were passed out at the house where they live with their mother when Lomen knocked on the door in the early morning hours with the news that she'd "done something" to Danny Klondike. 

Mother babysitting

For Rita Duntra, the mother to Danny, Dolan and Joanna Klondike, the night began around 9 p.m. when she arrived at the couple's house to babysit. 

She looked after the couple's young son while the pair put on costumes: Danny Klondike was a cowboy, and Lomen was a nurse. 

An emotional Duntra testified that Danny Klondike returned around midnight, "too drunk" to take off his shirt and chaps. Duntra helped her son off with his clothes before he fell on the floor, passed out. 

Lomen arrived later. Duntra recalled standing with her on the step outside the house, talking about "old times." 

Lomen, Duntra said, was talking about Janelle, Danny Klondike's first girlfriend. Duntra described Lomen acting "different" than usual, not looking at her, and possibly getting "jealous." 

Court heard that Janelle had passed away several years earlier but that sometimes, when Danny Klondike was drunk, he still cried about her. 

Joanna Klondike said her mother told her that's what Danny Klondike was doing that night. 

Later, in the early morning hours, neighbour Douglas Bertrand was the first to find Danny Klondike covered in blood. He was sitting on his couch, bubbles appearing on his chest when he tried to breath. 

Bertrand went twice to get help, he testified Tuesday. The third time he came back, Danny Klondike was dead. 

Photos submitted as evidence show the couple's living room in disarray, though Duntra said it was neat and tidy when she'd left. 

She also said she'd left her son sleeping in a t-shirt and jeans, though he was wearing only boxers when later found. 

Danny Klondike's violent death is not the first in the family.  

In 1998, Rita Duntra was charged with manslaughter after killing her common-law husband, Julien Klondike, with a single stab wound to the chest in Fort Liard. In that case, Crown documents at the time indicated it was a matter of self-defence, and the charge was stayed.