Rogelio Butch Bagabuyo

Image Credit: Kamloops Collaborative Family Law Association

A Kamloops lawyer's first-degree murder trial started slowly Monday as the Crown lawyers presented dozens of exhibits.

Bags, ropes, shovels and a blood-stained jacket were among the dozens of exhibits pulled from bags, numbered and bagged again in Kamloops court, April 14.

Rogelio Butch Bagabuyo, who is accused of killing Mohd Abdullah in 2022, took notes as a Kamloops RCMP officer showed each one of the exhibits to the judge.

Bagabuyo was charged with first-degree murder a year after Abdullah's body was found in the back of a rental van on March 17, 2022.

The trial started Monday, more than three years after Abdullah went missing. Bagabuyo was at a table behind his lawyers, while Const. Nicholas Evelyn was beside him, opening each paper bag containing a separate piece of evidence.

The first was the Budget van rental contract followed by black straps and a black plastic tote, each described by Crown prosecutor Sameena Nahal, one of three prosecutors on the case.

Wearing black latex gloves, Evelyn carefully cut each paper bag and pulled out its contents. There were several pieces of rope, cords and a ratchet strap. Two larger bags had shovels in them, one with a squared edge and the other, with mud still on its tip, a garden spade.

Nahal showed the court a maroon-coloured puffer jacket which was found inside the van. She didn't say whether it belonged to Abdullah, but did describe how it had a tear on either sleeve, a burn mark and a blood stain.

Evelyn carried each item to the court clerk as each one was carefully accounted for.

Several black garbage bags were also entered as evidence, some melted to what appeared to be clear painter's sheets together and five were cut, appearing as if to be worn as a shirt. Some were found in the cargo van and others in Bagabuyo's house.

Justice Kathleen Ker was also shown a red, serrated reciprocating saw blade, which appeared to be in its package. It was found beside the handle for a paint roller inside the van. Also in the van was an Oneida brand kitchen knife, Nahal said.

Nahal didn't describe the context for any of the evidence presented.

In the morning session, Ker interjected partway through and said the process could be like "watching paint dry" for people in the gallery who were waiting for the trial to start.

With 24 pieces of evidence accounted for by midday, they continued in the afternoon to tally a total 58 exhibits, leaving no time for prosecutors to give their opening arguments. 

Nahal brought the court evidence police seized from inside Bagabuyo's home including receipts from Home Depot, altered bank statements from a savings account and a bank teller receipt accounting for a $7,500 cheque deposit and partial withdrawal.

Police also seized what Ker later described as an "index card" from inside the house. It had flight information from Expedia for a flight from New York City to Vancouver. Nahal said it included handwritten notes that read, "Bag everything after. Don't bring phone, e-watch. Turn apps off, location services."

Upon his arrest in March 2022, police also seized a bag with a stack of 28 documents inside. It was largely a collection of emails between Bagabuyo and Abdullah with a single yellow page listed with questions, Nahal said. They were found in a bag stuffed up Bagabuyo's sleeve.  

The content of those emails was not described.

The trial is expected to take several weeks of court time with a transition to Vancouver less than halfway through. Most, if not all, the exhibits in Kamloops will be shipped to Vancouver once the trial picks up there.

Bagabuyo initially opted for a jury trial, but he later changed his mind and the case will be decided by Justice Ker.

The circumstances of the death were not discussed, April 14, but the road to the long-awaited trial started when Abdullah's body was discovered inside a plastic bin in a rental van on March 17, 2022.

Bagabuyo had been described as a friend and had at times offered legal advice to Abdullah, according to a family member of the victim.

Initially charged with interference with a dead body, a year-long investigation ended with the first-degree murder charge.

Abdullah was reported missing when he didn't show up for work just days before the grisly discovery of his body.

Bagabuyo, who pleaded not guilty, has been on bail for most of the three years since Abdullah's body was found.

— This story was updated at 4:55 p.m., April 14, 2025, with more information from the trial.

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