ROBOTTI TRIAL: Images of Roxanne Louie's body shock Kelowna court | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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ROBOTTI TRIAL: Images of Roxanne Louie's body shock Kelowna court

FILE PHOTO

KELOWNA – It was a difficult day for family and friends of murder victim Roxanne Louie as photos and a video of her body were shown in Kelowna Supreme Court.

The graphic images were taken Jan. 12, 2015 by forensic specialist Cpl. Warren Kraft, the day after the body of the 26-year-old was found in a forested area off Arawana Road near Naramata.

They show a snow-covered bank, a tree with suspected blood stains on the trunk and a barefoot Louie lying face down with what looks like blood all around. Her body is clad in poka-dotted yoga pants and a tank top.

It was dumped there by Pier Robotti after his sister Grace Robotti killed her with a metal pry bar during an early morning fight Jan. 4, 2015.

Grace Robotti, 65, is currently on trial in Kelowna for second-degree murder, a charge to which she has pleaded not guilty. She admits she killed her great-grandson’s mother with 26 pry bar strikes to the head but denies she wanted her to die. She has pleaded guilty to interfering with a dead body for a frantic cleanup undertaken that morning and for helping her brother get rid of the body. Robotti also filed a false missing person report following the death and lied to police on multiple occasions to try and cover her tracks.

Seated in the gallery, several of the more than one dozen of Louie's friends and family broke into tears when the first image of the 26-year-old's bare foot was shown sticking out of the snow.

Other photos admitted as evidence on the third day of trial today, March 23, included images of the exterior and interior of Grace Robotti’s mobile home in Penticton where Louie died.

The hallway and two rooms appear ordinary until investigators applied a chemical that turns blood traces a fluorescent blue. A substance later confirmed as blood is smeared on the floor, walls and furniture throughout the home.

Kraft also photographed a blue pry bar found in a metal tool box in a locked shed in Robotti’s back yard.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw or call 250-718-0428 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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