Witness at Reno Lee homicide trial says accused told him it was time to 'work off' drug debt

A witness at the trial of three men accused of killing 34-year-old Reno Lee told court Wednesday he helped transport the victim to a Regina house to pay off a drug debt.

Three men — Bronson Gordon, Andrew Bellegarde and Daniel Theodore — are on trial in Regina's Court of Queen's Bench for the 2015 killing. All three have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and committing an indignity to a body.

One witness, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, testified on the third day of the trial that Gordon would "front him drugs," meaning Gordon would provide the man with drugs and a payment would be made at a later date.

Lee's remains were found in April 2015 on the Starblanket First Nation, with his limbs, torso and head discovered wrapped in plastic and buried in a shallow grave.

The witness testified that he received a text from Bronson Gordon on April 15, 2015 — 15 days before Lee's remains were found — in which Gordon said it was time for the witness to "work off" his debt.

The witness said he owed Gordon less than $800.

When the witness arrived at Gordon's apartment on the 2100 block of Angus Road, he was given a shotgun and told to wait in a bedroom, where another man was also present.

They were told they were waiting for someone to arrive and that they were going to "hold him up."

Lee showed up at the apartment later, the witness testified, and "looked surprised as hell" to see the men there with guns. The witness said he and the other man punched Lee. The group then left the apartment in an SUV driven by a woman, with Theodore in the passenger seat. 

The witness, who was high on fentanyl and methamphetamine at the time, did not know their destination.

The witness said they drove to a home on the 1100 block of Garnet Street, where he helped take Lee into the basement. He then bound Lee's wrists and legs with tape under Theodore's instructions, he said.

"I listened to [Theodore] because it seemed like he was in charge at the time," the witness said.

He testified that he left his shotgun in the basement and went upstairs, where he waited around for about an hour before he left.

"I didn't like where the situation was going," he said.

Police would later find items at the Garnet Street house soaked in bleach. Fingerprints were found there as well.

It was determined that although his remains were found northeast of Regina, Lee had been killed in the city.

Lee died from two gunshots to the head, according to Saskatchewan's chief forensic pathologist, Dr. Shaun Ladham.

His was the city's third homicide victim of 2015.

A kitchen knife, a cleaver, a bucksaw and tape were found in a slough near Lee's remains.