A drug-fueled night with Cody Alan Legebokoff was described to the jury Wednesday as the trial for the man accused of murdering three women and a teenage girl continued at the Prince Geoge courthouse.
Rylan Stanyer and Matt Mathews both testified they traveled from Burns Lake to attend a party in Prince George where they met up with Legebokoff, who Stanyer knew from playing hockey but had not seen in three years.
After a few beers, they decided to get some cocaine in powder form. They purchased a gram and, after snorting it in Legebokoff's truck, they purchased another gram and consumed it as well. Stanyer agreed it was a lot of cocaine, saying it was about $200 worth and agreeing about a half-gram will do for a night, and it seemed Legebokoff knew where to go to score the drug.
Once they finished with that, they went out for a third time to buy some more but this time Legebokoff bought some crack cocaine, which is smoked, and they then went to his apartment on Liard Drive, where he had been living since May 2010, the court heard.
Stanyer said it was the one and only time he ever used crack cocaine because he disliked the intense high it produces while Mathews said it was his third time and went on to say he also did not like the effect, saying it made him feel "antsy."
"I felt very displeased with myself, very greasy I guess you could say," Mathews said.
Legebokoff meanwhile left the apartment.
"He said he was going to get a piece of tail from an older lady," Stanyer said.
Neither saw Legebokoff return to the apartment by the time they left in the early afternoon, driving back to Burns Lake, although Stanyer said Legebokoff had to go to work that day.
Neither Stanyer nor Mathews were clear on the exact date when the party occurred and were uncertain on the times at the key points over the night.
Crown prosecution is alleging the episode occurred on Sept. 10, 2010 and are linking the episode to the death of Cynthia Frances Maas, 35, whose decomposed body was found in L.C. Gunn Park on Oct. 9, 2010.
The court also heard testimony centred on Natasha Lynn Montgomery, 23, who also went missing around that time and shortly after she had been released from Prince George Regional Correctional Centre. Her body has never been found.
Tyson Stump testified he was in the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre at the time and, during a brief period he and Montgomery were in side-by-side cells in the holding area while being processed on their first days in the facility, they struck up a conversation.
Once they were moved into the men's and women's sides of the jail, they continued to write each other - a letter from Stump was found in a sport bag Montgomery had owned - and at one point he asked why her head was shaved. Stump said he was told it was because she owed a drug debt.
"They took her and beat her up and shaved her head to mark her out on the street that she owed money to a dealer," Stump said.
The budding romance died, Stump said, when he was released before Montgomery and began a new relationship in Williams Lake.
Jeffrey Menton also testified Wednesday, telling the court he was selling crack cocaine out of the apartment on Queensway where he lived when one day an acquaintance from upstairs named Blake appeared at his door with Montgomery's possessions and told him she would be living with him.
Describing himself as "passive" and a "nice guy," Menton said he did not make an issue out of it and Montgomery showed up later that day, put on her makeup and left for the night. Menton said the arrangement lasted about two weeks, with him letting her sleep on his bed, adding there were plenty of nights when he was not even there.
Asked about the last time he saw Montgomery, Menton said they went to a friend's home near Victoria Towers where she was asked to help secure some drugs for them. Menton said she came back to say she couldn't get any and then "broke down and just started crying" but never said why.
Menton said Montgomery left once again but never came back. Menton said he tried but was unable to reach her through Facebook and when she was reported missing, said he decided to "shut down" his apartment and stop selling drugs.
"Right after Natasha, what happened there, I decided to get out of the scene," Menton said. "I didn't like what was going on, with that and with my life too. It was falling apart."
However, Menton also said he tried to keep the operation going for about a year-and-a-half afterwards "but just wasn't working out," and he was eventually evicted from the apartment.
The court also heard from Timothy Russell, who told the court he "was" a friend of Legebokoff's from a young age and often partied with him.
Asked about the night of Nov. 27, 2010, when 15-year-old Loren Donn Leslie's body was found and Legebokoff was arrested, Russell said Legebokoff was supposed to show up at a "mustache and cleavage" party at a friend's home.
But Legebokoff then told him he was going to drive to Fort St. James to pick up keys to his new house. Contrary to what Legebokoff had told police, Russell said he was not out with him poaching deer or grouse on that night.
Russell said there was usually a party every second weekend at the 1000-block Carney Street home where Legebokoff lived. Russell said he once noticed a blood stain on a couch in the home's basement suite where Legebokoff lived. He said Legebokoff told him he got drunk, fell down and suffered a nose bleed one time.
Crown prosecution is alleging blood from Jill Stacey Stuchenko, 35, was found on the couch. Her body was found Oct. 20, 2009 in a gravel pit off Otway Road.
Russell also testified about a pickaroon, he saw in the basement suite. He said Legebokoff told him it was given to him by his brother as a measure of protection after he noticed some footprints in the snow circling the home.
Crown is alleging a pickaroon, a tool similar to a pickaxe, was used to kill Maas.
The trial continues today at the Prince George courthouse, starting at 9:30 a.m.
