Yoga teacher planned new life in B.C.

Wearing a dress and a wide smile at a trendy Halifax bar, Kristin Johnston was excited about starting a new chapter in her life.

The Montreal-born yoga instructor shared drinks with friends and joked about ways she could break up with her boyfriend Nicholas Butcher, a recent graduate of Dalhousie University’s law school who was having difficulty finding an articling job.

Johnston, 32, had just shut down her yoga studio and wanted to leave her life in Halifax behind, eager to move across the country to be closer to her sister in Tofino, B.C.

Johnston had just returned from a reinvigorating trip to Costa Rica.

“She looked beautiful,” Lisa Abramowicz, 34, said of her childhood friend. “Very happy. Very bubbly.”

Hours later, Johnston’s lifeless body was found on a bloodsoaked bed at her home near the ocean on Halifax’s outskirts.

Butcher, who turned 36 on Friday, is charged with seconddegree murder in her death, with evidence so far revealing much about Johnston’s plans for a fresh start. The Crown will continue calling evidence today as the trial enters its third week.

Johnston, whose brother owned a Bikram yoga studio in her hometown of Montreal, came to Halifax in 2011 with dreams of opening her own studio. She was quickly embraced by the local yoga community, becoming known as a kind and determined businesswoman with a magnetic personality.