Facing triple murder charge, Derek Saretzky back in Alberta court
Sarah Lawrynuik | CBC News | Posted: May 8, 2017 6:34 PM | Last Updated: May 8, 2017
He's pleaded not guilty in relation to deaths of Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, Terry Blanchette, Hanne Meketech
An Alberta man accused of killing three people in the Crowsnest Pass — including a little girl and her father in a case that attracted nationwide attention — is in court this week and next for voir dire hearings ahead of the trial.
A voir dire is a sort of trial within a trial meant to determine the admissibility of certain evidence. The trial will be held in Lethbridge, Alta., before a judge and jury, which is to be selected later this month.
Derek Saretzky of Blairmore is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Terry Blanchette, 27, his two-year-old daughter, Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, and Hanne Meketech, 69.
He's also charged with committing an indignity to the body of the toddler.
Saretzky, who was in court Monday, pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The case attracted national headlines when Blanchette was found dead and his daughter missing from their home in Blairmore, a community of 2,000, on Sept. 14, 2015.
An Amber Alert was issued for the girl but she was found dead the next day in a rural area near Blairmore.
Saretzky was charged on Sept. 16, 2015, with two counts of first-degree murder.
Seven months later, police also charged Saretzky with first-degree murder in the death of Hanne Meketech, who lived in the neighbouring community of Coleman.
Meketech was found dead in her home on Sept. 9, 2015 — five days before Blanchette's body was discovered.
The voir dire hearings are expected to last well into next week at Court of Queen's Bench in Lethbridge.
All material heard at this time during the voir dire is under a publication ban and can't be reported.
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