A woman testified Thursday she was once in the same pickup truck as Cody Allan Legebokoff and one of his alleged victims.
Melanie Ragan said she was living in an Upland Street apartment when one day Natasha Lynn Montgomery came by, woke her up and asked she "spot" her on a "date" - or act as a safety backup for a prostitute while out with a customer.
Ragan said she followed Montgomery outside where she saw a black pickup truck with Legebokoff behind the wheel.
They hopped in, with Montgomery sitting in the middle and Ragan closest to the passenger door and they drove out past Prince George Regional Correctional Centre on Highway 16 East.
"She said that they had a usual spot there," Ragan told the court.
Ragan said she had provided similar help twice before but the situation this time "just didn't feel right," and had Legebokoff stop at the Mr. G convenience store on Highway 16 at Boeing Road, saying she had to go to the bathroom as a ruse to get out of the truck.
Ragan said Montgomery followed her inside where she tried to talk her out of going any further with him.
"She said that it was fine and she had gone with him before," Ragan said.
She said they went back outside but Ragan dragged her feet and Legebokoff revved the truck's engine. Montgomery hopped back in and the two took off, leaving Ragan behind.
Worsening matters for Ragan, she had taken her boots off in the truck because they were still wet from walking in the slush the day before, and they were still in the vehicle when the other two left.
"I was screaming at them, 'I need my boots!,' but they just took off," Ragan said.
Ragan said she was able to hitchhike back into town and saw Montgomery again later the same day.
"She said that they'd met online and that he was a good guy and that there wasn't anything to worry about because they had been out a few times before and he was never a problem for her," Ragan said.
Ragan said she didn't know who the man was at the time but identified Legebokoff on the stand and later asked him to "please stop staring at me." Legebokoff looked away in response and a sheriff positioned herself between him and the witness box.
Ragan said there was not much talking during the ride out of town, most of it just Montgomery whispering to Legebokoff. When she asked to stop at the Mr. G, she did so through Montgomery, Ragan told the court.
Ragan said the episode occurred in early winter 2009, when the snow was slushy, and about three weeks before she went down to Vancouver for six weeks of drug addiction treatment. Ragan said she never saw Montgomery again and had assumed she had moved back to Quesnel until she saw in the news that Legebokoff had been charged with murdering her.
Under cross examination from defence lawyer Jim Heller, Ragan agreed she did not come forward with her story until police had picked her up in front of a nightclub one night in May for allegedly causing a disturbance.
Ragan said she told the story to two other friends but could not recall their names.
"I wanted to come forward but I didn't because I was scared to," Ragan said.
Ragan could not recall what Montgomery and Legebokoff were wearing other than to say Legebokoff was wearing a ball cap and had longer hair at the time.
Ragan denied Heller's suggestion she had made the story up.
"Maybe the timing was off a bit but it happened," she said.
Shown a photo book of the alleged victims, a tearful and sobbing Ragan also identified Cynthia Frances Maas 35, and Jill Stacey Stuchenko, 35, as well as Montgomery, 23. She said she had seen all three at some time, usually in drug houses, and said Stuchenko had two children with her cousin, Leonard Kinney.
Legebokoff is also accused of murdering Loren Donn Leslie, 15.
The trial continues Monday at the Prince George courthouse, 9:30 a.m. start.
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