(JESSICA WALLACE / iNFOnews.ca)
November 13, 2013 - 3:12 PM
KAMLOOPS - The Crown alleged today that two men were shot to death before they were buried at a Knouff Lake property in 2009. The Crown's opening statement was heard today in B.C. Supreme Court on the first day of a double murder trial expected to last four to five weeks in Kamloops.
Roy Frederick Fraser is charged with the first degree murder of Damien Marks, 31, and second degree murder of Kenneth Yaretz Jr., 24. Fraser pleaded not guilty to both counts and elected trial by judge and jury.
The 14-person jury heard a summary of the expected case by Crown prosecutors Tim Livingston and Joel Gold.
The Crown said a pathologist will testify Marks suffered stab wounds before he was shot twice in the head and Yaretz was killed after five gun shot wounds to the back, chest and head. Livingston said police will testify that a missing persons investigation was prompted after the men were reported missing by their parents.
Marks' parents took the stand today and the jury heard that his mother awaited a call from him that never came.
The last time his mother heard from him was on April 16, 2009. He'd been on his way north to pick up furniture for his new rental apartment.
She asked him to call her when he got home, but when she didn't hear, she worried.
"The last time I tried to call him I got the 'client is away from the phone' message," she said. "I was worried he was hurt on his dirt bike or something."
Livingston said the police investigation lead to Fraser's property on Finlay Road at Knouff Lake, where police located the victims bodies buried in a grave along with a buried 22-caliber rifle, clothes and phones burned in a fire pit, a bobcat with traces of human blood and a dismantled marijuana grow-op.
Yaretz' step-mother and father are expected to take the stand tomorrow.
To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013