A winding trail to murder
‘SECOND JOB’ PLACED SLAIN MOTHER IN DUBIOUS COMPANY
From outward appearances, Sara Baillie was a perky, hard-charging single mother, who greeted friends with “Hey, Sunshine!” and doted on her precocious fiveyear- old daughter, Taliyah Marsman.
Just about everything Taliyah wanted, she got: frilly princess dresses, My Little Pony dolls, dance lessons, you name it.
But with a reported $19,000 income working at Calgary Airport’s Chili’s Grill and Bar, Baillie was concerned whether she’d be able to save enough money for a home and to pay for Taliyah’s future education.
“We were just talking about how to plan for your kids’ future, how much to put away for college, the estimated costs,” recalled one of Baillie’s friends. “She wanted her daughter to have a better life.”
And so Baillie got a “second job,” the friend said.
Baillie never said outright what that other job was and the friend never asked, but she says she didn’t really have to. The friend saw how much time Baillie spent with Edward Downey, who Baillie had once said was involved in the sex trade.
This week, a law enforcement source confirmed the friend’s suspicions that Baillie worked as an escort. With the revelation came a possible motive as to why Baillie, 34, and her daughter were slain last month — Baillie’s body was found July 11 in the basement suite she shared with Taliyah in the tony Panorama Hills neighbourhood in the city’s northwest; Taliyah’s remains were found a few days later on a rural property east of the city.
CTV News, citing multiple police sources, reported that investigators believe Baillie owed money to Downey, 46, the prime suspect in the slayings.
Downey’s lawyer, Gavin Wolch, said he had not yet received disclosures of evidence in the case and was unable to comment further. A court appearance that had been scheduled for this week was put over until Aug. 24. First-degree murder charges against Downey remain unproven.
Downey’s criminal history stretches back to 1989 and includes convictions for drug and weapons offences and living off the avails of prostitution, according to parole records. He once had a 19-year-old girlfriend work as a prostitute, a 2008 parole decision states.
“There is evidence you have been involved as a ‘pimp’ and have ‘run’ prostitutes. You have previously denied this involvement but with the Board today you admitted to this activity.”
By 2010, however, the parole board’s view of Downey had changed. In granting him full release, officials noted that he had gained “credibility and stability” and was working as a truck driver and had strong support from his common-law wife and sister.
Friends say Baillie came to know Downey through his girlfriend and often visited them in their townhouse in the Skyview Ranch neighbourhood in northeast Calgary. Neighbours say a boy also lived in the home and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
In the past week, a blowup swimming pool and an assortment of toys were visible in the front yard, which is shared with a neighbour.
Calgary police have said that Downey, who was born in Dartmouth, N.S., according to parole records, has ties to organized crime.
Some media outlets have linked Downey to an interprovincial sex- trafficking ring that some law enforcement authorities have said has origins in North Preston, an unincorporated community northeast of Halifax.
However, police in Nova Scotia dispute the notion that “North Preston’s Finest” is even a gang. And local residents say Downey wasn’t raised in North Preston and only has family ties to the community.
Last Sunday, the National Post approached a man identified by locals as Downey’s father at a motorcycle rally in southeast Calgary, but he declined to talk.
“He’s got nothing to say,” someone nearby interjected.
At one point the man, dressed in a sport coat and wearing a fedora, participated in a lively impromptu game of craps, in which bets were placed on rolls of dice against a curb. Players flung $ 20 and $ 50 bills on the ground and snatched them up at a rapid-fire pace.
The event, held in a strip mall parking lot, was sponsored by the 902 Boyz, a group of ex- Nova Scotians whose social media posts suggest a fondness for souped-up motorcycles and scantily clad women who pose provocatively on them.
A Calgary business owner who knows some of the 902 Boyz members said the group’s main interests are “fast bikes” and “hot women.”
A law enforcement source said investigators believe there is a connection between the 902 Boyz and North Preston’s Finest but would not elaborate.
On the day of the rally, a police truck slowly rolled through the parking lot. A couple of members, dressed in black and white vests emblazoned with 902 Boyz logos on the backs, welcomed a reporter with fist pumps and pats on the chest. But as soon as the topic of the murders came up, they went silent and turned into the crowd.
Baillie’s circle of friends included members of the 902 Boyz, said multiple people who knew her.
It was not uncommon for Baillie to search out the “biggest … dude” she could find at parties — guys with a bit of an edge to them, friends said. She was also unafraid to sometimes get into their faces.
But while Baillie liked to party occasionally, Taliyah remained her No. 1 priority, friends said.
Before mother and daughter moved to the basement suite in Panorama Hills in May, they had lived for a period with Baillie’s brother, Michael Baillie, in a townhouse complex in northeast Calgary filled with young families.
Taliyah often could be seen riding around the driveway on her bicycle or playing with finger paints with other children, neighbours said. Baillie happily bought frozen treats for them when the ice cream truck rolled through, they said.
Fatima Salih said she had no qualms sending her daughter over to Taliyah’s house to play, recalling the household as organized and structured. Salih, a Kurdish immigrant, said Baillie showed nothing but “openheartedness” toward her family and dropped off a toy when they moved out of the complex.
Baillie’s brother, as well as her aunt and uncle, Scott and Marilynne Hamilton, took turns looking after Taliyah when she was away, neighbours said. Mike Baillie, who until recently had been working in the oilpatch in Fort McMurray, also helped his sister cover the cost of rent.
There were occasional signs of strife. Neighbours said they once witnessed Baillie leave the house in tears with Taliyah after a fight with her brother.
The relationship between Colin Marsman, Taliyah’s father, and Baillie was “tumultuous,” with ongoing disputes over custody and child support, a friend of Marsman said.
On at least one occasion, neighbours saw Marsman being escorted away from the home by police. In March 2015, a peace bond was issued to Marsman ordering him not to go near Baillie.
Last fall, Marsman became distraught at Taliyah’s fifth birthday party because there were several men there who he didn’t know and disapproved of, a friend said. He was also concerned about the amount of alcohol present.
A friend of Baillie said the party was under control.
Just weeks before she was killed, Baillie returned to her old stomping grounds at the townhouse complex to celebrate a birthday.
If she was feeling any distress over money or relationships, she wasn’t showing it, said people who attended the party.
“She was happy; she had her usual bright glowing smile on,” one friend said.
“She was thankful.”
THERE IS EVIDENCE YOU HAVE BEEN INVOLVED AS A ‘PIMP’ AND HAVE ‘RUN’ PROSTITUTES.