Rogelio "Butch" Bagabuyo is seen leaving the Kamloops courthouse with his lawyer, Mark Swartz, on April 15, 2025.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Video surveillance showing the victim's last known movements capped the second week of a Kamloops murder trial.

Major crimes investigator Cpl. Dave Marshall took the witness stand for days as he described surveillance video police compiled showing Mohd Abdullah's bus trip from his job to downtown Kamloops, where he allegedly met with lawyer Rogelio "Butch" Bagabuyo for the last time on March 11, 2022.

Bagabuyo is charged with first-degree murder, accused of stealing nearly $800,000 Abdullah entrusted to him, then killing him when he came asking for its return.

Crown lawyer Ann Katrine Saettler gave opening arguments on April 15, marking the official start to a trial slated to span ten weeks in two courts, Kamloops and Vancouver.

Prosecutors showed the court surveillance footage for much of the second week, with Cpl. Marshall describing different video collections as showing Bagabuyo's activities after and before the alleged killing, along with Abdullah's last bus ride.

Through a variety of video surveillance from downtown, Bagabuyo was seen travelling in and out of his Victoria Street law office. On the day of the alleged murder, he is seen through one attempting to load a 45 gallon plastic tote to the back of his black Honda Pilot.

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The last known sighting of Mohd Abdullah on March 11, 2022, pictured in downtown Kamloops near Bagabuyo's law office.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kamloops RCMP

During what appeared to be a struggle, a homeless man passes by and is seen helping him load the bin, then Bagabuyo hands him cash, according to Cpl. Marshall's testimony.

As police collected videos from businesses, a city bus and home surveillance used to track Bagabuyo's movement in March 2022, some of what they gathered was from Bagabuyo's own dashcam. Using the video as evidence is the first example in the case where Bagabuyo's career as a lawyer caused speed bumps for investigators.

"All of those videos do contain audio, which potentially had privileged conversations," Cpl. Marshall said. "Essentially what would happen with the special procedures in our warrant is we would have a forensic copy made... (and) the copy that had audio was sent to our legal referee."

Though the audio wasn't ultimately used in court this week, Cpl. Marshall said it wasn't until March 2024 the RCMP "legal referee" returned the copy after reviewing the videos and found they captured no privileged conversations.

Bagabuyo had already been charged with first-degree murder for a year by that point, but the "unprecedented" complexity of the case due to Bagabuyo's career as a practising lawyer led police to bring in a "legal referee" to field potential legally sensitive material investigators couldn't have access to.

More surveillance footage shown in court depicted Bagabuyo buying materials at a local Home Depot three separate times in the days ahead of Abdullah's alleged murder. He was seen twice on March 1 and March 10 each time buying a large black plastic tote. One of those bins was allegedly the same in which Abdullah's body was discovered in the back of a rental van on March 17.

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Abdullah was reported missing shortly after he was last seen downtown, and the former head of Kamloops RCMP missing persons investigations said she spoke with Bagabuyo on the phone March 15. At the time, she didn't know Abdullah was already dead.

Const. Kim Lucas told the court Bagabuyo said he last met with Abdullah days earlier and that he hadn't spoken with him since.

“Butch told me that Mr. Abdullah said he would see him when he was back. I asked what that meant to Butch," she said. "Butch told me he took that as Mohd was out of town.”

On the same day Bagabuyo went to his elderly friend Wynand Rautenbach for help renting a cargo van, who testified Bagabuyo was "in trouble" and wanted to get rid of a heavy plastic bin.

Rautenbach told the Budget rental company employee they needed it to pick up a couch, and they spent two days driving hundreds of kilometres in the Thompson region unsuccessfully seeking a place to bury the bin in the cool spring weather. The frozen ground, the court heard, was too difficult to dig with the two spades they allegedly took with them.

Rautenbach testified he didn't know what was in the bin and resisted urges from his grandson and wife to look inside because it was Bagabuyo's "private" belongings. His family, however, said they were concerned Rautenbach, then in his mid-80s, was being taken advantage of.

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His grandson, Justin Robertson, checked the van in their Dufferin neighbourhood driveway, where he said he discovered a body inside the bin on the evening of March 17, 2022. He called police that night, and Bagabuyo was arrested the next day.

The court hasn't yet heard evidence of the alleged crime scene inside Bagabuyo's downtown law office nor the relationship between him and Abdullah.

Florentina Lalata, left, with Mohd Abdullah and daughter Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco

Crown lawyers said at the outset of the trial Bagabuyo, who largely practised family law, helped hide nearly $800,000 in an effort to keep it from being divided in Abdullah's divorce in 2016.

Abdullah's ex-wife then died in 2019 and Bagabuyo said to wait another two years in case her estate seeks the money, but prosecutors say evidence is forthcoming to suggest Bagabuyo spent the money for himself. It was Abdullah's protracted efforts to regain his money that led to their March 11, 2022, meeting, the Crown said summarizing their case.

To convict Bagabuyo for first-degree murder, prosecutors must prove he not only killed Abdullah but also that it was planned ahead of time.

It's not clear what evidence Bagabuyo's defence is bringing to the trial, but his lawyer Mark Swartz did question Rautenbach last week, in which the elderly man said their search for a place to dig was "aimless" and lacked planning.

The final day of the three-week Kamloops portion of the trial is Friday, May 2. It's scheduled to continue in Vancouver until June 20.

The unusual move to host a dual-courthouse trial has not been explained.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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