A key piece of evidence in the case against Cody Alan Legebokoff was at the centre of testimony Friday from three young women who once shared a house with the man accused of murdering a teenage girl and three women.
Jana Leidl testified she returned to the 1500 block Carney Street home from visiting family in Fort St. James over the 2009 Thanksgiving long weekend and went downstairs where Legebokoff's bedroom was located to check on him.
In the basement's living room, she found Legebokoff lying on a couch he owned watching television. She also noticed a "blood stain about the size of a melon" on one end of the couch and another blood stain on the carpet covering the floor.
"He said that he was high and fell asleep on the couch and had a bleeding nose," Leidl said. The court later heard Legebokoff had started using cocaine while living in the home, despite concerns from the housemates.
Crown prosecution is alleging Legebokoff murdered Jill Stacey Stuchenko, 35, in the basement over the Thanksgiving long weekend. Her body was found on Oct. 20, 2009, partially buried in a gravel pit off Otway Road near Foothills Boulevard.
Leidl said nothing was done about the stain on the couch but Legebokoff tried cleaning the stain off the carpet over the next few days after she asked him to.
From late August 2009 to early April 2010, Leidl, Legebokoff and two others — Sadie Burgard and Jazzmin Lukeniuk — had rented the home. All knew each other from Fort St. James where they had grown up.
Both Leidl and Burgard said they helped Legebokoff load his pickup truck when he moved to an apartment in the 1400 block of Liard Drive and in the process took off the mesh covering stapled to the bottom of the couch because it had gotten mouldy.
Earlier in the trial, the jury was shown photos police took at the apartment that showed the blood had soaked through the couch's padding and left a solid droplet hanging out the bottom side.
All three housemates identified the couch from another photo taken at the apartment.
Leidl and Burgard also both testified they saw a pickaroon, a tool similar to a pickax but with a single pointed end, sitting next to Legebokoff's bed. Neither could remember exactly when it showed up but said Legebokoff was worried about intruders and footprints had been seen in the snow leading to a shed in the back yard.
Lukeniuk did not remember a pickaroon but recalled a small ax next to his bed.
"I asked Cody, 'why do you have an ax by your bed?' and he was like 'well, it's scary downstairs, you try sleeping down here alone.' "
Crown prosecution is alleging wounds consistent with being hit with a pickaroon were found on the body of Cynthia Frances Maas, 35, and blood from Natasha Lynn Montgomery, 23, was found on an ax seized from Legebokoff's apartment. Maas's body was found in L.C. Gunn Park on Oct. 20, 2010 and Montgomery's body has never been found.
Parties were regularly hosted at the home, the court heard, sometimes with people some of the housemates did not know showing up. Alcohol, marijuana and even ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms were common.
But when Legebokoff was found snorting cocaine, it caused a stir. Lukeniuk said she went to use the downstairs bathroom because the upstairs one was occupied and found Legebokoff sitting on the toilet in a reverse position with the lid down.
Putting two and two together, Lukeniuk said she went upstairs to tell the others, which included some young men who were visiting, and they all went downstairs to try to talk Legebokoff out of it but without success. Legebokoff became more secretive and associated with some shady characters following the episode. "They were not the people I would hang out with," Lukeniuk said.
The three also had some disagreements over Legebokoff's messiness, the court heard. At one point, Legebokoff threatened to leave because he was tired of the criticism and was not about to change his ways. Worried they would lose a renter, the three backed down on the issue.
All three also testified Legebokoff met some girls through Nexopia, a social networking website, some of whom he brought to the home and stayed overnight, leading to some teasing.
Legebokoff met Loren Donn Leslie through the site, the court has heard. On the night of Nov. 27, 2010, the body of the partially blind 15-year-old was found near a gravel pit north of Vanderhoof shortly after Legebokoff was pulled over for speeding along Highway 27.
Legebokoff was subsequently arrested for her murder and later charged with the murders of Stuchenko, Maas and Montgomery.
