Basil Borutski angry with victim night before 3 women killed, former neighbour testifies
Kristy Nease | CBC News | Posted: October 11, 2017 6:43 PM | Last Updated: October 11, 2017
Police asked Shirl Roesler to text accused triple murderer in attempt to locate him
Basil Borutski was "very angry" the night before three women were killed in and around Wilno, Ont., in 2015, and suspected one of the victims of fooling around with other men, a former neighbour of the accused triple murderer testified Wednesday.
Borutski, now 59, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 66-year-old Carol Culleton, 36-year-old Anastasia Kuzyk and 48-year-old Nathalie Warmerdam. Their bodies were found at three separate crime scenes the morning of Sept. 22, 2015, and Borutski was arrested that afternoon.
Shirl Roesler, who lived in the same social housing building as Borutski in Palmer Rapids, Ont., at the time of the killings, testified that the night before the women died Borutski showed up at her apartment in a state of agitation.
She'd never seen him like that before, she told the jury during examination in chief by Crown attorney Jeffery Richardson.
'He said karma was going to come back and get her'
Roesler testified that Borutski was "very upset, he was very angry," and that it had to do with Culleton.
Court earlier heard that Culleton was the first victim, strangled with a television coaxial cable at her cottage on Kamaniskeg Lake, where Borutski had done some work for her.
"They were all drinking one night and she started messing around with one of his friends, with him there," Roesler told the jury.
Referring to notes made by police during her 2015 interview with them, Roesler testified the alleged incident happened about two weeks before the killings.
"One thing that stood out was that he said karma was going to come back and get her, but that could mean anything," Roesler told court.
Accused left car at victim's cottage
Roesler also testified she often let Borutski borrow her vehicle after he fixed her brakes for free, and that he texted her the afternoon of the killings to say her car was at Culleton's cottage.
The text, sent by Borutski at 1:56 p.m., also said he left $100 in the car to pay for the fuel he used. The text included the words "sorry" and "by [sic] friend."
"That's ok," Roesler replied.
In court Tuesday, the jury was shown video surveillance footage of Borutski driving Roesler's car out of their parking lot the morning the killings took place.
Court had earlier heard that Borutski left Roesler's vehicle at Culleton's cottage, then drove Culleton's car to the homes of victims Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam.
Police soon caught up with Roesler and asked her to send two more texts to Borutski, one of them asking if her car was at the cottage, and the other asking where he was.
The trial is expected to resume Thursday morning with more testimony from Roesler.
Borutski remains silent in court
Borutski's trial before Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger in Ottawa started last week and is scheduled to run for 17 weeks.
- FULL COVERAGE: You can review all the court stories filed so far about this trial here
- VIDEO: Watch accused triple murderer discuss killings in confession tape
Borutski has not hired a lawyer and is therefore representing himself at the trial, but he has refused to enter a plea or speak at all, forcing the court to enter a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
He has sat motionless and expressionless in the prisoner's box so far, sometimes squeezing his eyes shut, sometimes looking at relatives and friends of the victims, and other times staring at the ceiling or the floor.
Maranger has repeatedly told Borutski and the court that his silence is being interpreted as acquiescence to the proceedings.