A Vancouver Island man has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and offering an indignity to human remains in the killing and dismemberment of his wife last year on Hanson Island.
During an appearance in B.C. Supreme Court in Campbell River on Wednesday, Traigo Andretti, 38, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years after admitting to killing his wife, Jennifer McPherson, on April 29, 2013. Andretti was sentenced to another two years for the indignity charge.
Andretti tied McPherson to a tree, strangled her, cut her into pieces, burned part of the remains and scattered other remains across Hanson Island.
The couple worked as caretakers for the Hanson Island Fishing Lodge on the small island south of Port McNeill. McPherson, 41, was reported missing May 1 after she didn’t show up to meet her adult daughters at the ferry terminal in Port McNeill. Andretti told her daughters that McPherson had gone to Las Vegas, but they became suspicious and contacted the RCMP.
McPherson’s remains were found a few days later. Andretti turned himself in to police.
“This was cruel and inhumane behaviour, and the planning and deliberation signals a coldness and profound disturbance at work in your life,” Justice Terrence Schultes said to Andretti during Wednesday’s court hearing.
Andretti insisted on representing himself despite being urged several times to get legal counsel. He pleaded guilty in August 2013, but the judge rejected the plea because he didn’t have a lawyer.
Andretti told the judge on Wednesday that he understood the consequences of pleading guilty, said B.C. Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie.
“He hasn’t had counsel throughout the proceedings and he elected to proceed without counsel,” MacKenzie said.
“It’s unusual for an individual to be representing themselves in such a serious case of this nature and it’s unusual for an individual to be pleading guilty to first-degree murder. But ultimately that was the course that Mr. Andretti chose to take.”
Andretti and McPherson met online in 2006 in Winnipeg and moved to B.C. in 2008 when McPherson found employment as a caretaker at the lodge, a 15-kilometre boat ride from Alert Bay. The couple were known for having a tumultuous relationship.
Andretti has a form of autism and has been of concern to police when he failed to take his medication. He has a criminal history in Manitoba and B.C., including a violent attack against McPherson in 2008.
None of McPherson’s family members were in the courtroom Wednesday.
Andretti’s brother, Jef Grubb, was in the courtroom to hear his plea be accepted and his sentence. Andretti, bound with handcuffs and leg chains and sporting a beard, did not acknowledge his brother.
He kept his head down when Crown prosecutor David Fitzsimmons read the details of the crime, responded to the judge’s questions in a hushed tone that at times was barely audible, and was unemotional during the proceedings. He declined the opportunity to speak prior to sentencing.
Additional reporting by Sian Thomson, Campbell River Courier-Islander
[This is a corrected version of an earlier story.]
