A key witness in a trial for three men accused of a drug-related murder recounted what she saw and heard during the fatal shooting of a Prince George man two years ago.
Darren Sundman, Kurtis Sundman, who are brothers, and Sebastian Martin each face a count of first-degree murder in the Jan. 16, 2015 death of Jordan Tayor McLeod, who was 24 years old at the time.
Recounting events in the hour or so leading up to the shooting, Stacey Stevenson said she was in the back of a friend’s mobile home in Vanderhoof when Darren Sundman entered the room and told her to grab her belongings.
Stevenson complied, the court heard, and went out to the kitchen where she saw McLeod sitting on a bar stool in the middle of the room. Darren Sundman tried to convince McLeod to unlock his phone but he refused and Sundman grabbed the phone away from him, Stevenson said.
From there, they filed out of the home and into a pickup truck where Kurtis Sundman got into the driver’s seat while McLeod got into the passenger side. Stevenson sat in the middle back with Darren Sundman sitting behind McLeod and Martin behind the driver, resting a shotgun between his knees.
With Kurtis Sundman “driving crazy” and “going quite fast” they headed to Prince George and, after driving through the city, travelled east on Highway 16. Stevenson said Darren Sundman began hitting McLeod with the butt of a handgun and then, just as they passed Prince George Regional Correctional Centre, McLeod was told he would have to jump out of the truck while it was still moving “or he knew what was going to happen to him.”
They turned onto Upper Fraser Road and soon after, McLeod did jump out. Kurtis Sundman pulled the truck over and the three men jumped out. Stevenson got into the front because Martin had accidentally set off a can of bear spray.
As she bent over, placing her head between her knees, Stevenson said she heard a shot and then Martin say “I got him boss.” Stevenson, who turned tearful as she testified, said she then heard a second shot and, when she looked up saw all three make their way across a ditch and into the bush where they pulled McLeod’s body from the trees and put it into the back of the pickup.
She said they took off and made their way onto a logging road where they dumped the body – it was found off the Kaykay Forest Service Road northwest of the city, the court has heard. In the hours that followed, they also retrieved McLeod’s car from Vanderhoof and abandoned it north of Williams Lake after rolling it down a gully and setting it on fire.
The Sundmans and Stevenson were arrested a matter of hours later in Quesnel after they tried to steal an all-terrain vehicle and then failed to evade police.
Under questioning from Crown prosecutor Joseph Temple, Stevenson spent much of Monday setting the scene. She and Darren Sundman had been living together as girlfriend and boyfriend in Vanderhoof where he had been working at a pellet plant in the community.
He had been selling cocaine on the side, with Stevenson keeping track of debts owed to him. But in late summer 2014, Sundman quit his job and they began using methamphetamine heavily while selling cocaine to cover their bills.
By December, Stevenson said she broke up with Sundman because she “just had enough of everything” and was planning to move out. At about that time, Sundman was introduced to McLeod as a supplier.
Stevenson said she began communicating with McLeod via text messages and phone calls behind Sundman’s back and when he and his brother left for Merritt, she stayed behind.
Stevenson packed her bags while the Sundmans were away but when she convinced McLeod to pick her up and drive her to Prince George for New Years Eve she left them behind. While in Prince George, Stevenson stayed with some friends and then, for a brief time, with McLeod.
While with him, McLeod asked Stevenson to text Darren Sundman and ask if he had the money he owed McLeod. “Yes, I have his f---g money,” Sundman tersely replied.
She said McLeod had been friendly to Sundman in previous conversations but also a “little bit rude,” because he wanted Sundman to pay up. McLeod had “no real reaction” to Sundman’s text, Stevenson said.
McLeod asked Stevenson for some photos of her and, in response, she sent him some portrait shots. McLeod drove her back to Vanderhoof and instructed Stevenson to “pretend like nothing happened,” because he wanted his money from Sundman.
Stevenson’s testimony continues today at the courthouse.
