Cody Legebokoff's DNA found on multiple murder victims, says Crown
Legebokoff on trial for murder of 3 women, teen girl near Prince George and Vanderhoof, B.C.
The trial of a B.C. man charged with four counts of first-degree murder opened Monday morning in Prince George with the Crown telling the jury Cody Alan Legebokoff's DNA was found on at least three of the four murder victims.
Legebokoff is charged with the first-degree murders of Loren Leslie, 15, Jill Stuchenko, 35, Cynthia Maas, 35, and Natasha Montgomery, 23. The women died in 2009 and 2010.
Legebokoff, 24, sporting a shaved head and goatee, sat in the front of the courtroom staring straight ahead as the judge read out all four counts.
Women brutally beaten, raped: Crown
In his opening statement, Crown counsel Joseph Temple told the jurors that Stuchenko and Maas both suffered blunt force trauma to their heads as well as other wounds.
Maas`s body was found in a park on the outskirts of Prince George, naked from the waist down. Temple said a pickaxe found in Legebokoff's apartment had nine traces of Maas's DNA. He also told the jury that experts will testify that semen samples taken from Stuchenko's body match Legebokoff's DNA.
Montgomery's body was never found. However, Temple told the jury several items, including shirts, shorts, bedsheets, a comforter and an axe found in Legebokoff`s apartment tested positive for her DNA.
All three women were known to have worked in the sex trade.
Temple told the jury that Legebokoff met the 15-year-old Leslie in November 2010 after exchanging text messages and social media conversations on Nexopia and arranging to buy alcohol.
He said Legebokoff changed his story to police concerning Leslie, before admitting he had, in fact, met her. Temple said Legebokoff eventually told police she had consensual sex with him, but claimed Leslie went "psycho," hitting and stabbing herself.
According to the Crown, he said he hit her to put her out of her misery. Leslie's body was found partially buried near a gravel pit off a bush road near Vanderhoof, B.C.
The trial is expected to last six to eight months.
Live twitter feed from the trial
With files from the CBC's Marissa Harvey and Kirk Williams