Accused admitted to killing woman, Crown tells court
Ian Hewitt has admitted to numerous people — including police — that he killed Angela Crossman on an Agassiz logging road by choking, stabbing and cutting her throat, the Crown told a B.C. Supreme Court jury Tuesday in New Westminster.
Hewitt, 38, is charged with the firstdegree murder of Crossman, whose body was found off the Chehalis Forest Service Road near Elbow Lake almost seven years ago.
In her opening statement, Crown prosecutor Theresa Iandiorio said Crossman was killed early on the morning of June 11, 2009, but alleged that the plan to kill her was hatched the night before. Hewitt live data home on Hillcrest Avenue in Abbotsford with his best friend, Alex Paul, Paul’s wife and children, and Crossman.
On the evening of June 10, Paul and Hewitt went to a pub. Iandiorio said Hewitt told undercover officers months later that during the pub night Paul asked him to get rid of Crossman because she suffered from mental-health issues and was a headache for him and his family. Hewitt allegedly agreed to kill Crossman.
After the men returned home and Paul went to bed, Iandiorio said, Hewitt texted one man who lived near Elbow Lake to say he would be there in about an hour. Iandiorio said Hewitt then packed a bag with a knife before convincing Crossman — who had a crush on him — to go for a drive.
It’s alleged that Hewitt drove to a remote area of Elbow Lake, on Chehalis Forest Service Road. There, he’s accused of choking Crossman, stabbing her multiple times, cutting her throat and then dumping her body by the road. Iandiorio said Hewitt went to his friend’s house — stopping on the way to dump Crossman’s purse and the knife off a bridge — where he drank a beer, smoked marijuana, changed his pants and asked his friend to dispose of the pants he had been wearing. Hewitt returned home. Crossman’s body was discovered around noon that day.
On July 7, 2009, Hewitt and Paul visited a friend of Hewitt’s named Matthew Bish at his home on Interprovincial Highway in Abbotsford. There, Hewitt allegedly told Bish that he had stabbed and killed a woman in Agassiz. That night, Paul was shot to death during an altercation at Bish’s home. Bish’s roommate, Robert Hogan, was charged with second-degree murder, but later acquitted.
During the probe into Paul’s death, Bis ht old police about Hewitt’ s admission. The cops then approached Bish to work as a police agent.
The operation took about five months.
During that time it’s alleged that Hewitt admitted to five people that he’d killed Crossman. After his arrest in June 2010, Iandiorio said, Hewitt again confessed to killing Crossman.
Defence lawyer Daniel Henderson also made his opening statement to the jury Tuesday. He said Hewitt will testify at trial.
“Ian Hewitt will deny killing Angela Crossman and any statements he made to the contrary were false,” said Henderson. Instead, Henderson alleged, Paul was the one who killed Crossman and Hewitt was only involved in the disposal of Crossman’s body.