Tearful father testifies son was ‘incoherent’, triple-murder trial told
Through a father’s tears, Larry Saretzky told court Tuesday how his son said Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette had gone to heaven.
Saretzky, testifying at his son Derek’s triple-murder trial, said he asked the accused if he knew anything about the missing girl’s whereabouts when he learned police were looking for a white van similar to the one owned by the Saretzky family cleaning business.
“I said, ‘Do you know anything about what happened’ and he said ‘no,’ and I asked him, ‘they’re looking for (that) little girl and they have to find her,’ ” the elder Saretzky told Crown prosecutor Photini Papadatou.
“He told me she was in heaven,” Larry Saretzky said.
Derek Saretzky, 24, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Hailey and the girl’s father, Terry Blanchette. He’s also charged with first-degree murder in the Sept. 9, 2015, death of Coleman resident Hanne Meketech, 69.
Blanchette, 27, was found slain in his Blairmore home on Sept. 14, 2015, when his two-year-old daughter was discovered missing. The girl’s remains were found the next day, the same day the accused made the comment about her whereabouts.
Larry Saretzky said he pressed his son for more information after he said she was in heaven.
“I said, ‘We need to know where her body is’ and he said he didn’t know,” the father testified. “He was talking like there was three of us there,” he said, speaking about their one-on-one conversation at the family’s business premises.
“He was very incoherent. He never did say where she was or anything else he did.”
Larry Saretzky said he continued to press his son for information.
“I tried to ask him more questions ... more on what happened, if he knew anything. He couldn’t tell me any more. And that’s when it became gibberish.”
The father said once his son made the comments, he went to talk to police, who were waiting to speak to the accused.
“They were waiting in the back ... for us.”
He said he told the officers the accused had something to tell them.
“He told them what he told me,” the father said.
Meanwhile, the seven-woman, seven-man jury was led through a series of photos showing the bloody scene at the Blanchette residence.
Cpl. Fred Ridding said among the bloodied items found in the home was a doll left in Hailey’s upstairs crib.
Papadatou led Ridding through
I tried to ask him more questions ... more on what happened, if he knew anything. He couldn’t tell me any more.
a series of 93 photographs and two home diagrams to illustrate the scene.
Some photographs of Blanchette’s body were skipped over by the prosecutor, who indicated the members of the Court of Queen’s Bench jury had copies in their photo books and could view them if they chose to.
Ridding showed jurors photos of Blanchette’s bedroom, where a bloodstained pillow was found.
A red smear mark across the victim’s floor, leading to where his body was found in the bathroom, covered in part by a blanket, was photographed as well.
Ridding also shot partial footprints leading from the bathroom, through the kitchen into the living room and ending at the carpeted stairway leading up to Hailey’s bedroom.
Upstairs, in her crib, the officer found a small amount of blood on her pillow and on the doll.
The trial continues Wednesday.