A documentary about a serial killer who stood trial in Prince George for murdering three local women and a Vanderhoof teen is now available on several streaming platforms.
Making of a Serial Killer: Cody Legebokoff tells the story of one of Canada’s youngest serial killers. Legebokoff was 19 when he killed his first victim, 35-year-old Jill Stuchenko.
He also murdered Cynthia Maas, 35, Natasha Montgomery, 23, and 15-year-old Loren Leslie.
Despite multiple searches, Montgomery’s body was never recovered. However, her DNA was found on a pickaxe discovered in Legebokoff’s residence — the same weapon he used to kill Maas — and was used to convict him of Montgomery’s murder.
Mark Nielsen, who was the Prince George Citizen’s court reporter during Legebokoff’s trial in the summer of 2014, is one of several interview subjects featured in the 46-minute documentary. The program, produced by U.K.-based FirstLook TV, is now available on YouTube, Paramount+, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Tubi and Sky.
Raised in Fort St. James, Legebokoff came from a well-regarded family. His crimes shocked those who knew him as a popular teenager active in sports. Kathleen Leslie, who knew Legebokoff’s grandparents in Fort St. James, said she could never say anything bad about them.
“The hard part is anyone who knew him would never suspect for one minute that anything like this would go on,” Leslie said.
Legebokoff was arrested on Nov. 27, 2010, north of Vanderhoof after an RCMP officer spotted him turning onto Highway 27 from a logging road while driving erratically. A conservation officer later retraced the truck’s tracks in the snow, leading to the discovery of Loren Leslie’s body.
“I’m not an expert on this stuff, but it’s not the first time a traffic cop has busted open a case,” Nielsen said. “He was driving a purse back to Vanderhoof that a woman had forgotten in Fort St. James when he saw the bouncing lights (of Legebokoff’s truck), and he noticed the erratic driving. He was trying to get away from the scene — and that’s how he got caught.”
The shorts Legebokoff was wearing at the time of his arrest were stained with Montgomery’s blood.
First released Jan. 9, the documentary includes interviews with Loren Leslie’s father, Doug Leslie, and grandmother Kathleen Leslie, as well as Prince George–Cariboo MP Todd Doherty, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Joni Johnstone, and criminologist Everett Parr.
On May 10, a local film technician visited the Citizen newsroom to set up a video link between Nielsen and an interviewer in London, England, to discuss his experience covering the three-month trial.
On Sept. 11, 2014, a jury found Legebokoff guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. At age 24, he began serving his sentence at Kent Institution, a maximum-security prison, before being transferred to Warkworth Institution, a medium-security facility in Ontario, in January 2019.
The producers of the documentary contacted Citizen managing editor Kennedy Gordon, who forwarded Nielsen’s contact information.
Nielsen was previously interviewed for Court Junkie, a podcast that released an episode in 2017 titled The Case & Trial of One of Canada’s Youngest Serial Killers.
During the trial, Nielsen logged three weeks of overtime. Most days, he spent six hours in court, followed by several hours writing his daily stories. The case produced 95,000 pages of evidence, involved 4,000 contacts by investigators, and featured testimony from 195 police witnesses.
“It was mostly lab techs holding up test tubes — the continuity of evidence,” Nielsen said. “Anybody who had any contact with Legebokoff was willing to get up on the stand and tell their story.”
Nielsen agreed to be interviewed for the documentary because he had gotten to know Doug Leslie during the trial and wanted to help maintain public awareness of Legebokoff’s crimes, and to support the Loren Donn Leslie Foundation, which promotes youth empowerment and encourages students to speak out against bullying.
“I did it as a favour to Doug — he wanted to keep it in the public eye,” Nielsen said.
“It’s a matter of time before Legebokoff goes before the parole board, and I’m certain the public has a lot of influence over whether the board decides to grant release.”
Nielsen interviewed Doug Leslie several times outside the Prince George courthouse during the trial and recalled how deeply affected he was by the loss of his daughter.
“Doug went through a lot, and it was all he could do to keep it together,” Nielsen said. “Now that he’s passed — Doug died of lung cancer on March 15 — I remember he asked the cops, ‘Just give me five minutes with him.’”
Nielsen said he has not watched Making of a Serial Killer and has no desire to see it.
