The final hours of Vanderhoof teen Loren Donn Leslie's life were given some clarity Thursday as the trial for Cody Alan Legebokoff, the man accused of murdering her and three other women, continued at the Prince George courthouse.
Richard Wruth said he runs an after-school program, Vanderhoof Children's Theatre, which uses Nechako Valley Secondary School to put on productions during the school year.
He had gathered some items for a show at the home of a coworker, Noella Hansen, to drive over to the school on the night of Nov. 27, 2010. Just before 8:30 p.m., as they were driving to the high school, Wruth noticed Leslie come out of the apartment complex where she lived.
Her head was down and she appeared to be texting or playing on a cellpone or electronic device, Wruth told the court.
Wruth said he recognized Leslie because she used to particpate in the program which he had run since 1999.
"She was in many shows with us," Wruth said, adding she was "in and out of the program."
Wruth said she was wearing a pair of shorts.
"And I thought, 'how foolish, you're wearing shorts in the middle of winter' and I continued on my way," Wruth said.
Wruth and Hansen dropped the items off at the school and were soon back on the way to the home to drop her off.
On the trip back, Wruth said he noticed a dark-coloured pickup truck stationary but running and with no one inside the cab parked near a chain link fence at McLeod Elementary School, a short distance away from Nechako Valley Secondary.
He then saw Leslie sitting on a swing set at the school and someone also wearing shorts, as well as a hoody or a jacket, walking towards her.
"I said to Noela it was bloody cold and why are they wearing shorts?," Wruth said.
Wruth said he thought the person was a male but was not certain. He also agreed that the person walking towards Leslie did not appear to be furtive and did not turn around to look at the vehicle Wruth and the co-worker were in as they drove by.
Hansen told the court she saw Leslie the evening before, a Friday, at a convenience store with a "gentleman" and appearing "really happy."
When she saw Leslie on the swing set the following night, Hansen said she looked "quite sad."
"She wasn't smiling," Hansen said and later told the court that while the lighting was fairly dim there was still some light from the school.
Hansen also noted the swing set has since been removed.
With the help of Charity Funk, a close friend and next door neighbour of Leslie's, the court was taken through an exchenge of text messages sent about the same time Legebokoff is suspected to have met up wih Leslie.
When Funk asked her what she was up to, Leslie replied "not much, out driving" and when asked who she was with, just said "Cody," the court heard. Leslie then described Cody as a friend from Prince George, and when Funk offered to go out for coffee with her, Leslie declined saying "I'm sorry, maybe tomorrow when I get back from P.G."
Funk said she and Leslie usually saw each other every day and would text each other "probably at least once an hour."
But Funk said she had not seen Leslie for about a week because they had a fight.
"We just had a slight disagreement was more like it," Funk said as tears welled in her eyes "I had my feelings hurt."
Leslie's habit of so-called "delicate cutting" and her mental state were also topics.
Dr. Johannes Giede, a psychiatrist based in Prince George who treated Leslie, testified the practice, in which Leslie would lightly cut her wrists, was not an attempt to commit suicide.
"It's somewhat epidemic right now in culture," Giede said. "Young women especially, although young men are starting to do it more and more, cut themselves in vulnerable sites where there are a lot of nerve endings to generate a feeling, usually of pain.
"But it causes a massive release in the brain of endorphin and then a soothing feeling, somewhat of a high. Most of that behaviour has nothing to do with suicide.
"Most of that behaviour has to do with tension relief, anxiety relief, the relief of sadness and like other forms of behaviour that give you a bit of a buzz, it can become quite addictive and become a behaviour unto itself."
Giede said Leslie was admitted to the adolescent psychiatry united at University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George on three occasions, starting in August 2008, and her last stay ran from Nov. 4 to 22, 2010.
She had been admitted over a concern she was suicidal but despite the initial appearances, Giede said Leslie was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and "mild to moderate" depression brought on by stress and possibly her use of marijuana. She was prescribed medication and discharged.
At about 9:30 p.m. on the night Wruth and Hansen saw Leslie, a Fort St. James RCMP officer arrested Legebokoff after his truck was seen driving onto Highway 27 from a rarely used offroad and continuing at a high speed. A few hours later, Leslie's body was found near a gravel pit off the road and Legebokoff, who police said was wearing shorts at the time, was arrested for murder.
According to Crown prosecution's statement at the beginning of the trial, which started June 2, Legebokoff claimed Leslie tried to commit suicide by stabbing herself in the neck with his knife and hitting herself over the head with a pipe wrench.
Giede called the scenario "ridiculous."
Legebokoff is also accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jill Stacey Stuchenko, 35, Cynthia Frances Maas, 35, and Natasha Lynn Montgomery, 23.
The trial continues today at 9:30 a.m. at the Prince George courthouse
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