A CNN news crew was in the area Wednesday filming a feature story on accused serial killer Cody Legebokoff.
Producer Katie Ross, photojournalist John Bena and correspondent Tom Foreman spent time in Prince George, Vanderhoof and Fort St. James researching the Legebokoff allegations for the Anderson Cooper 360 program.
"Our show has a series called 'Crime and Punishment' and this is one of the stories they [production staff] found that piqued their interest, so they sent us along," said Ross. "The fact that Cody was a normal young man, a boy next door, a regular kid only 19 years old, and [to] suddenly be charged with such crimes is something unusual and something the public wants to know more about."
"The age of the suspect is very intriguing," agreed Foreman, an Emmy Award-winning reporter who has covered many mass and serial murder cases in the past including the 9/11 attacks, the Columbine high school rampage, the so-called D.C. Sniper and the Jeffrey Dahmer killing spree.
"It is very unusual to have someone so young implicated in something like this," Foreman said.
"It's not that strange to have young people involved in multiple murders, but it is usually to do with a school shooting event or a gang-related thing. This is much different than that."
"This [should it be proven in court] would be something that developed over time; there was a thought process; it happened a number of times over a period of time; and there was an attempt to hide it," said Bena, also a veteran news correspondent.
"The mass-murder type like at Columbine kills a lot of people but it's all at once and there is no attempt to hide."
The fact the story is based in central British Columbia, a rural area of a neighbouring country, is no handicap for the story, they said. Foreman said the case had universal themes and gave Americans more credit for interest in and understanding of Canada than many Canadians might realize.
It was unclear if the Anderson Cooper 360 show would pay a return visit to the area as the court proceedings unfolded, but Foreman said they would certainly be following the case through to its completion.
The story on Legebokoff will air sometime in the next several days, they said, but a firm date was not determined.
