Otto Loose murder: Timmy Engel guilty of killing, dismembering Alberta senior, jury finds
CBC News | Posted: October 28, 2014 2:27 PM | Last Updated: October 28, 2014
Engel described to police how he carried out grisly 2012 slaying in southern Alberta
A jury in Lethbridge has found Timmy Engel guilty of killing and dismembering 77-year-old Otto (Bunty) Loose almost three years ago.
The retired farmer’s dismembered body was found in a wooded area near Bragg Creek, west of Calgary, in January 2012 a few weeks after he went missing from his home in Vulcan, about 130 kilometres south of the city.
Engel, 37, cried as the jury pronounced him guilty of first-degree murder and offering an indignity to a human body.
While the judge was confirming the verdict with the jury, Engel stood and tried to walk into the prisoner holding area, saying, "Can I leave please? I didn't do it."
The Crown’s case against Engel relied heavily on video-taped interviews with police shortly after his arrest in January 2012 in which he confessed to the killing.
Engel told investigators he drove Loose to a rural road near Claresholm, 80 kilometres southwest of Vulcan, where he slit his throat and waited for him to bleed to death in a ditch.
He then put the body in the back of his vehicle and drove past Bragg Creek, where he cut off Loose’s head and hands, disposing of them in the woods.
Engel’s defence lawyer argued during the trial that Engel only confessed to keep police from charging his pregnant girlfriend.
Court heard Engel cashed a $10,000 cheque from Loose days before his body was found.
Outside the courthouse Lavonda Justineck, Loose’s daughter, told reporters her family is relieved justice has been done.
"In time I'm sure I'll have to forgive for my sake, I'm just glad that he got 25-years and now he won't be able to do this to another family."
Engel was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, plus a three-year concurrent sentence for the separate charge of offering an indignity to a human body.