SARETZKY TRIAL
Re-enactment video with suspect, police played in court
The killing of Hanne Meketech was practice ahead of the Terry Blanchette and Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette murders, accused Derek Saretzky says in a confession video.
S-Sgt. Michael McCauley asks, “Why did you pick her,” referring to the 69-year-old Coleman woman.
“I didn’t think anybody cared about her,” Saretzky replied.
McCauley then asks if she was practice for Terry and Hailey.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Saretzky says.
The comments are contained in one of two videos shown Friday in Lethbridge court. The other is of a reenactment Saretzky took police on at the site, where he tells officers his acts of cannibalism and dismemberment.
Saretzky is on trial for the 2015 Blairmore murders of Blanchette, his daughter, twoyear-old Dunbar-Blanchette, and the Coleman murder of Meketech. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In the re-enactment video, McCauley and Saretzky are seen riding in the back of a police cruiser. Another officer is recording with a camera, and a third is driving. Saretzky provides directions to the campsite after officers say they want to take the same route he took.
Saretzky tells them he drove randomly looking for a spot and said he hadn’t been there before “that day,” although earlier evidence in the trial said his family owns a section of the remote area.
Upon arrival, Saretzky begins describing where he parked the van and where he choked Hailey.
“I cut her. I drank her blood. Most of it. I put it in a bottle,” Saretzky says. At this point in the video, some jury members became visibly upset and a break was granted.
When the video resumed, Saretzky tells McCauley he “cut her to pieces.” He says he cut off her head, and her arms and legs. Saretzky then details eating half of Hailey’s heart.
“I thought it would be really healthy for me. To bring me strength.”
He then tells McCauley that he said a prayer after he killed her.
McCauley, responding to Crown questions after the video, said he noticed the suspect’s demeanor changed during the re-enactment.
“I felt I was getting more truthful” information, he said, adding there was no talk of demons during the re-enactment as there was in the confession video played Thursday.
The second video played to court on Friday was also between McCauley and Saretzky. It was recorded on March 2, 2016, in the Calgary Remand Centre.
It begins with McCauley saying he was upset when he heard Saretzky tried to take his own life in prison. They also discuss Saretzky’s weight loss brought on by a hunger strike.
McCauley, whose expertise is talking to suspects, was again trying to befriend him. He told court Thursday that he uses the tactic to try to get information.
McCauley leads the conversation, telling Saretzky of hockey updates and news events such as ISIS and that Donald Trump could be the next president of the United States. McCauley also tells Saretzky his family is doing better, as are the families of the victims who are adjusting to a “very tough situation.”
“I regret what I’ve done,” Saretzky tells McCauley. “I did terrible things and I think about it. I murdered people.”
The officer then asks the suspect about apologizing to his grandparents for killing Meketech.
Saretzky confesses it was “spur of the moment.”
“I didn’t think about it. I just went ahead and did it. No real reason,” Saretzky said, adding he stabbed Meketech in the neck twice after hitting her on the head three times with a baseball bat.
He says he didn’t do anything with Meketech’s blood. He just left after killing her.
Saretzky also says he was drinking and on some drug, and was “messed up,” the night he killed Meketech.
The triple murder trial will resume Monday morning. The anticipated witnesses will be a medical examiner and Saretzky’s aunt.
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