Accused already confessed to killing 3 people: Crown
Warning: Graphic content
LETHBRIDGE Triple-murder suspect Derek Saretzky confessed to the murders of a Crowsnest Pass father and daughter and the unrelated slaying of a local senior, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
In her opening address to a 14-member Court of Queen’s Bench jury, Crown lawyer Photini Papadatou detailed the case she intends to call to prove Saretzky guilty of three counts of first-degree murder.
Saretzky, clad in a black golf shirt with horizontal, pinstripe white and red stripes and black slacks, pleaded not guilty in connection with the slayings of Hanne Meketech, 69, Terry Blanchette, 27, and his daughter, Hailey Dunbar Blanchette, 2.
Saretzky also pleaded not guilty to causing an indignity to the girl’s body.
Papadatou said the girl’s remains were found in a campsite firepit a distance from the Blairmore home she shared with her dad.
The prosecutor told jurors police initially were investigating the Sept. 9, 2015, death of Meketech in her home in Coleman, one of several communities that make up Crowsnest Pass.
Days into that investigation, the body of Terry Blanchette was found by his father in his home in nearby Blairmore, Papadatou said.
By coincidence, one of the investigators in the Meketech case went to the Blanchette scene and found both strikingly similar, she said.
“There was a lot of things that were an awful lot alike between these two cases,” Papadatou said.
At the Blanchette scene, police also discovered Hailey was missing.
Her remains were found a day later, after an Amber Alert was issued in the hope she’d be discovered alive, the prosecutor said.
Saretzky was arrested that day and confessed to killing both Terry Blanchette and his daughter, the prosecutor said.
He also led police to Hailey’s remains and did a re-enactment for the lead investigator.
In March 2016, almost six months after Meketech was killed, Saretzky was interviewed about her death and again admitted his guilt, Papadatou said.
Meanwhile, in evidence, Papadatou took jurors through a lengthy statement of agreed facts, accompanied by grisly photographs of Blanchette’s bloodied body and bones found in the firepit.
Jurors were also shown a photo of a list titled “Medicine Fresh” found on the wall in Saretzky’s apartment.
On the note were the names “Hanneh” and “Terry,” as well as a reference to “the hideous baby,” which were crossed out along with the words “sleepers for the dogs” and “Chy,” the nickname used by Hailey’s mother, Cheyenne Dunbar, whom Saretzky knew.
A book on cannibalism was found on a coffee table.
The agreed facts stated Blanchette’s father, William, discovered his son’s body after failing to reach him by phone or text after knocking on his door.
“He found his son’s body in the bathroom. He also discovered his granddaughter was missing,” Papadatou told jurors.
Court also heard evidence from the scene at Meketech’s home, after her neighbour and his brother found her dead inside her Coleman trailer.
Ray Labonte said he and his brother, Bob, became suspicious after arriving home from work on Sept. 9, and seeing Meketech’s door open.
Photos of Meketech’s half-naked body, with one of her two dogs lying on her chest, were also shown to jurors.
Papadatou said she expects to conclude the Crown’s case on June 22.