Canadian True Crime - 03 Cody Legebokoff

Starting point is 00:00:00 My name's John Weir. You don't know me, but you're gonna, because I know the people that have been watching you, learning about you. They know you've done well for yourself, that people like you and trust you. Trust you. Now imagine what they're gonna do with all that information that you've freely shared with the whole world. Now imagine what they're gonna do with all the information you have at it. Yeah, I'll be in touch. Radical starring Kiefer Sutherland, new series now streaming exclusively on Paramount Plus. Welcome to the Canadian True Crime Podcast, Episode 3.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Cody Legibacoff, Canada's teenage serial killer. This podcast contains course language, adult themes and content of a violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised. If you're listening to this episode, I'm guessing you've listened to the first two and have decided that this podcast isn't so bad. So thanks, I'm very glad to have you here. It's been an exciting few weeks for me and I've been really surprised by the response that I've received to this podcast. I am going to wait until after the episode to do my thank yous. But before I start, I just quickly wanted to tell you about another cool new podcast called 1995 as in the year.

Starting point is 00:01:30 From the OJ Simpson trial to the Oklahoma City bombing and the killing of the Israeli PM, 1995 was a year like no other in history. Now what might particularly interest you is that Season 1 dives into the trial of Paul Bernardo. The host of this podcast, Kathy Kenzora, was a young radio reporter in 1995 and actually covered the trial from start to finish. Really cool. She uses her notes and audio recordings from the trial and put together this podcast which is essentially a first-hand account of Canada's very own trial of the century. So you might want to check it out. It's 1995 or 1995. On November 27, 2010, a constable from the RCMP that's the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or Mountie as they're commonly referred to,

Starting point is 00:02:32 was driving along a remote highway in north-central British Columbia, about 10 hours' drive from Vancouver. His name was Aaron Keller and he was a relatively new cop with just one-year experience in his current role. It was about 9.30pm on a dark night and he suddenly noticed headlights in the distance. It was obvious that the vehicle was travelling at a great speed. This piqued the officer's curiosity and he kept a close eye on the vehicle. Suddenly, a black pickup truck darted out onto the highway in front of him from a logging side road and because of the high speed, it slid into the opposite side of the road before the driver regained control. Constable Keller suddenly got a gut instinct that something was up and decided to keep following the truck, calling for a fellow constable to come and meet him.

Starting point is 00:03:24 The area was quite remote and given the red flags that had gone up in his mind, he didn't want to confront the driver alone, so he just went at the same speed as the truck to make sure he didn't lose it. About 9 minutes later, he spotted his backup, Constable Sidhu, approaching from the other side of the road. Sidhu turned around and together they turned on their emergency lights with the intent of pulling the truck over. The truck continued for another couple of hundred metres before slowing down and then pulling over. After taking note of the licence plate to call into dispatch, Keller cautiously approached the truck which turned out to be a GMC Sierra pickup. His backup, Constable Sidhu, was walking up to the other side of the car to peer in the windows. As Keller ventured toward the driver's door, he was a little shocked to see the driver dangling his licence and registration out the window.

Starting point is 00:04:23 In his experience, drivers were usually too nervous to think to have their documents at the ready, this was actually the first time he'd ever seen this. He asked the occupant where he was going in such a hurry and saw it was a husky young man with shaggy hair, wearing only shorts with a long sleeve sweater. Since it was freezing cold outside between minus 5 and minus 10, Keller thought wearing shorts was an odd choice. He also noticed a small red smear on the left side of the driver's chin, almost like a shaving cut and drops of blood on one of his thighs. The young man replied that he was just on his way to his grandfather's house. Keller glanced into the truck and spotted an open can behind the driver's seat. He informed the driver that because he saw an open container of alcohol, a no-no, he was going to need to search the truck. Ah, sure, the young man behind the wheel replied.

Starting point is 00:05:22 As the driver hopped out, Keller could see more drops of blood on the man's legs and he noticed that the floor mat in the truck was wet with a puddle forming where the driver's feet had been. This is looked at each other, knowing that it was a potentially dangerous situation. Keller suggested that the driver get into his truck, saying that he'd probably be more comfortable since it was so cold out and he was wearing shorts, but the real reason was to secure the young man to ensure their safety as they searched his pickup truck. The driver said that sounded good and Keller said he needed to search him before he could get into the truck, normal procedure. A cell phone was found in one short pocket and a metal leatherman multi-tool with several knife blades attached was found in the other. Keller saw an unmistakable red stain on its interior surfaces. When asked about it, the driver replied that he used it on some grass earlier, grass being a large game bird that's often hunted in the area.

Starting point is 00:06:23 Keller remarked that it was way too much blood for a grass and the driver replied that actually he'd had to use it on a deer before that. Keller had a growing feeling that the young man was hiding something. He climbed into the back seat of the truck, locked the door and asked the young man to give the truth about why he was there this time of night and to explain the pool of blood. The story the young man gave was that he'd met a friend of his earlier in the nearby town of Vanderhoof. Together they'd driven to a gravel logging road outside the town and came across a deer. His friend shot the deer but it ran off so they tracked it down to kill it. Keller asked if they used the knife. The young man said no that they didn't gut the deer. He then admitted he'd been poaching. Keller was still uneasy about the whole situation but was at least relieved that he could detain the young suspect for now on poaching charges.

Starting point is 00:07:20 He called out an officer from the British Columbia Conservation Services. The two constables then left the detainee secured in the police truck as they searched his black pickup. They found two crack pipes, a four pack of mudslides and a four pack of white russians both with two bottles partially consumed. It was then that they found something suspicious, a pipe wrench with blood in its teething and a backpack shaped like a monkey. Inside the backpack was a poker dotted wallet and Keller took out the ID. It belonged to someone called Lauren Don Taze. Keller knew he needed to keep the young man detained while he investigated the ID further so he went back to the police truck and told him he was being arrested for poaching under the Wildlife Act. When asked, the young man said he understood and knew what he did was wrong as it was the wrong time of the year for poaching. Keller asked, do you poach a lot? The young man responded with a laugh, quote, yeah I'm a redneck, that's what we do for fun.

Starting point is 00:08:26 Keller then asked him what he used the pipe wrench for and the young man said he used it to club the injured deer after they hunted it down to put it out of its misery. He added, we took turns until it was dead. When asked about the crack pipes, the young man said they belonged to a friend. Conservation officer Cameron Hill, the officer that had been called, arrived at the highway shortly before 11pm and asked the young man to recount his story. So he told the same story about the deer, adding that after they killed the deer, they put it in the bed of the pickup and took it away to dispose of the carcass. But as a seasoned veteran of over 30 years, Hill wasn't buying it and he told the young man so. He asked him a few more questions to gauge the situation. Why was the young man wearing shorts? Was it really deer blood? If he was supposedly hunting, why was there no rifle? He said he'd never heard of anyone shooting a deer, clubbing it with a wrench, putting it in a truck and then taking it somewhere else to dump it.

Starting point is 00:09:32 None of the answers given by the young man convinced Hill, but it was such a strange situation. The young man was polite and respectful and more than willing to answer questions, which was not usually the case in his long law enforcement career. In fact, it almost seemed like the young man was bored with the situation, even yawning several times during the interview. While this conversation was happening, Constables Keller and Sidhu ran a computer check for Lauren Dunn-Taze and a missing persons query came back for the same girl under the name Lauren Leslie. They realized they needed to check out the abandoned logging road where Keller had first spotted the black pickup. Hill's four-wheel drive truck was deemed the best equipped for off-roading, so he volunteered to go, with Keller showing him exactly where to go on the map. Hill knew that it was highly possible he might find something other than deer carcass along the road. Shortly after 11.30pm, Hill reached the old logging road from which Keller had first spotted the young man.

Starting point is 00:10:39 Hill turned his vehicle into the snow-covered road, following the tire tracks into the darkness. It was still snowing, so fresh snow was starting to cover the tracks. After about 400 meters, the tire tracks abruptly stopped, and so did Hill. In front of his truck, he saw two sets of footprints. He grabbed his flashlight and followed the tracks. It was a dark, dark night, so he walked slowly. As he surveyed the ground as he walked, he noticed some drops of blood and the signs that something had been dragged into the trees. The snow was stained red. He then stopped in his tracks and made a gruesome discovery. His flashlight revealed the body of a girl lying in the snow, her face battered beyond recognition.

Starting point is 00:11:26 Her long blonde hair was bloodied and matted, and her pants were down near her ankles. Hill traced his own footprints back to his truck and radioed in the grim news. What he'd discovered was the worst-case scenario. Lauren Don Leslie was 15 years old, a grade 10 student at Nicheco Valley Secondary School in Vanderhoof. Her parents were divorced, and she lived with her mother in the nearby town of Fraser Lake. However, her parents successfully co-parented, and she kept a room at her dad's house. She was a taller girl, with an average build, brown eyes, and long, blonde, wavy hair. Probably due to her height, she looked a lot more mature for her age.

Starting point is 00:12:13 Lauren had been born with a genetic disorder that left her legally blind, with 50% vision in one eye and no vision in the other, but she'd never let her eyesight get in the way. She was described as sensitive, caring, compassionate, and full of life. She always wanted people to be treated fairly and spoke up when she felt they weren't. She enjoyed water activities like boating and tubing with her father, as well as swimming. She'd been diagnosed with depression, but overall she was seen as a normal girl who was generally happy and upbeat. On the night in question, Lauren had spent the early hours with her mother. At about 8pm, she told her mom that she was off to have coffee with a girlfriend.

Starting point is 00:12:55 Her mom reminded her to be careful and be home by 1am. This was the last conversation they would ever have. But Lauren was not off to see a girlfriend. She was off to meet Cody Ellen Legibacoff, the driver of the black pickup truck with blood on the floor. Cody was 20 years old, burly, blonde-haired with blue eyes. He was 6'2 and weighed 200 pounds, a big guy. Lauren and Cody met a few weeks prior via the Canadian social media site called Nyxopia. Cody went by the user name One Country Boy and presented himself as Just That, an easy-going country boy.

Starting point is 00:13:37 Lauren was looking to meet friends. However, their texts and chats nearly all began with Cody asking Lauren questions like, What do you like sexually? She always ignored the question, avoided answering or changed the subject. In one of their last chats, Cody wrote, How about doggy or anal or are you the type that just likes to get treated like a dirty little whore? As always, Lauren ignored this and responded with, Are you actually 20? A few hours before Lauren's death, the text between the two started at 6pm when Cody asked Lauren what she was doing that night.

Starting point is 00:14:15 After some back and forward, Lauren invited him to come meet her in Vanderhoof and gave him directions to her school, which would be their meeting place. Cody asked her not to tell anyone. Lauren's reply was, Well, we're just hanging out, right? Nothing sexual. Cody didn't answer that question, but went on to say he was driving a black pickup and wearing shorts. Lauren told him she was 15. He said he was 20 and asked her if she wanted him to get her some drinks. Lauren asked for chocolate mudslides. Lauren was seen leaving her home that night just after 8pm.

Starting point is 00:14:52 As she was waiting for Cody, she texted him to find out where he was. He replied he was getting the drinks. She asked him to hurry as she was cold waiting outside. Cody purchased the drinks at 8.20pm. And 10 minutes later, Lauren was seen sitting on swings at the school that they'd arranged to meet up in, just as a black pickup truck pulled up. The witness said a man in shorts stepped out and walked towards her. Cody Allen Legibacoff was arrested at 12.07am for the murder of Lauren Leslie back at the highway traffic stop. After first telling the suspicious deer story, Cody announced that he hadn't told the truth and wanted to tell it now.

Starting point is 00:15:37 Despite warnings from Constable Sidhu that he shouldn't talk because he hadn't yet been advised of his legal rights, Cody continued to talk, protesting that he'd found Lauren and that she was already dead. Quote, I didn't kill that girl. Cody kept requesting that he speak with his parents, but Sidhu said as an adult his only right was to call a lawyer. And given that Cody didn't know any lawyers, Sidhu went off to see if he could find him one. The night Lauren died, her father Doug was getting ready for bed at midnight when the RCMP called to say they'd found his daughter's ID in a vehicle they'd pulled over on Highway 27. They said they'd get back to him when they knew more. Obviously, Doug was now extremely anxious, so he called his ex-wife, Lauren's mother, to see if she knew where Lauren might be.

Starting point is 00:16:31 She said Lauren was with a girlfriend and due home soon. Doug called RCMP dispatch, but they had no new information for him, so shortly before 2am, he hopped in his car with the intent of driving to the scene. By the time he got there, Hill had already returned from his grim discovery and had rejoined Kala and Sidhu. Doug went up to the officers and demanded an explanation. Sir, all we can tell you is that we're investigating a homicide, was the response he finally got. Lauren's father knew immediately what they meant and his knees almost buckled. The next day, Cody Ellen Legibacoff was booked and processed into Vanderhoof RCMP Detachment. He was photographed and had swab samples taken from the various blood smears on his body.

Starting point is 00:17:28 After that, there was a waiting period, during which he was allowed to call his parents and then connected with the lawyer that arranged for him. Now is time for Cody's interrogation, which would begin with RCMP Corporal Greg Yannicky, who had made the 9.5 hour drive from Vancouver as soon as he'd received the call. Yannicky began in the usual friendly casual tone, designed to put the person questioned at ease and hopefully more likely to be honest. This was the good cop and the good cop bad cop routine. At first, Cody was guarded, giving out only brief one-worded answers to Yannicky's questioning, but after a while he started to open up. He talked about his job at a Ford dealership in Prince George, a small city about an hour's drive from Vanderhoof. Cody detailed how he'd worked his way up from shipping and receiving to a more sought-after position in the parts department,

Starting point is 00:18:25 a recommendation from his father who advised that the department would be better for his future. Cody spoke about the good relationship he had with his parents and how he was into the National Hockey League. He was a die-hard Calgary Flames fan. Cody then told the officers that he had a serious girlfriend. Her name was Amy Voll and they'd been dating for several months. They met at work at the Ford dealership. Amy was studying at the College of New Caledonia and they'd planned to move in together at the end of the semester. After this conversation, Cody asked if he could go home and Yannicky suggested that first Cody needed to tell his story step by step.

Starting point is 00:19:07 So Cody told a story. Slowly he explained that he'd been driving home when he saw some four-wheeler tracks leading off from a highway so he decided to follow the tracks. Nearby he found a cell phone and the monkey bag along with a heavy pipe wrench and a knife. He said the area had been disturbed, like someone had dragged something. He followed the drag marks and came across the body of Lauren Leslie, lying face down on the ground. He rolled her over and saw she was dead. He said her head and face were bashed and bloody and he was, quote, scared shitless so got the hell out of there. He added that he had a life and didn't need to be mixed up in something like this, that this was simply a case of bad timing.

Starting point is 00:19:55 Yannicky asked what kind of person would do something like that. Cody replied, quote, obviously not a good person. Yannicky ended the session and returned Cody to the holding cell. A few hours later, the interrogation commenced again, with Yannicky chipping away at Cody's story trying to pin him down to greater detail. Another RCMP team member there, Sergeant Peter Tufik, immediately thought of another recent case that bears a striking resemblance to this one. Tufik had a strong suspicion that Lauren Leslie was only the latest murder that Cody had been involved in. The case of Cynthia Ma was still fresh in his mind. The decomposing remains of 35-year-old Cynthia had been found seven weeks earlier in LC Gunn Park, about an hour's drive from Vanderhoof.

Starting point is 00:20:47 The way she'd been found was eerily similar to how Lauren had been found. Cynthia's murder turned into a line of questioning for Sergeant Tufik, who began to play the role of bad cop. He told Cody he didn't think Lauren was his first murder and mentioned Cynthia's name. He tried to scare Cody by saying they're going to go over his life, search his house, computer, take DNA profiles. He said maybe Cody was trying to be in the same league as other famous Canadian serial killers such as Picton, The Colonel, Clifford Olson. He mentioned how The Colonel stood up and admitted to what he did. He gave Cody some time to think, but still, Cody refused to speak up. The interrogation was deemed over for the day. The next morning, it resumed, this time with RCMP Sergeant Paul Dadwell trying out the good cop routine again.

Starting point is 00:21:42 He started off by telling Cody that he could feel his girlfriend Amy's love for him when she referred to him as a man, not a boy. And as he'd hoped, the mention of Amy's name seemed to break down some of the walls that Cody had put up. He told Dadwell that they had plans to get married and raise a family together. He said he'd recently taken her to Thanksgiving dinner with his whole family because, quote, she's the one. Dadwell sees the opportunity and suggested to Cody that because Amy loves him, she'd want to know the truth. Still, he denied any involvement other than just discovering the body. But with a bit more prodding from the experienced Sergeant Dadwell, Cody eventually admitted that this wasn't the case. He told the story about how he'd met Lauren on the social networking site and had arranged to meet her at a school on the way to meeting his grandfather and mother.

Starting point is 00:22:37 According to Cody, they drank some alcohol and had sex in the truck. Afterwards, he said they decided to go for a ride and talk. He told her that he wanted to go off-roading and turned down the old logging road and that's where things started to go downhill. Cody said that as they were driving along, Lauren started slapping herself in the face and yelling about how she hated her life. Cody said, quote, she started going apeshit. Cody said Lauren demanded that he stop the truck, so he did, and then she jumped out and started hitting herself in the face with a wrench that she had grabbed from the floor. Quote, she just went fucking crazy. Cody went on saying that Lauren kept hitting herself in the face and head with the pipe wrench and then used a knife to stab herself in the neck until she collapsed onto the ground. He said he then dragged Lauren's body into the bush, although he had no explanation as to why he moved her body there since they were already off-road on an abandoned logging road.

Starting point is 00:23:40 Cody then paused and looked at Dadwell to see his reaction. He then went on to say he had a family and a girlfriend that loves him and how he'd never do something like this. It wasn't right. He'd never hurt anyone. He also denied being involved in the death of Cynthia Ma. Quote, I don't pick up hookers. I don't do that. The more they continued to talk, the more relaxed Cody seemed to be. He said he was born in Fort St. James in 1990 and had grown up there too. He loved hunting and fishing and recounted how he went fishing with his grandfather during the summers. He was a solid C-plus student, not top-notch, but not terrible either.

Starting point is 00:24:22 He said that growing up he was never mean to anybody. He left a glowing report of his parents and said they were always good to him, his brother, and his sister. Since Cody was opening up more, Dadwell pressed him for more truth. He mentioned some inconsistencies. The first one was that when Lauren's body was found, her pants and underwear were already down around her ankles. This didn't jive with Cody's story. Since she had a belt on, her pants would not have just slid down when he dragged her body into the bush. Also, if he'd dragged her when her pants were already down, then the movement would have forced snow into her underwear and pants, but there was no snow.

Starting point is 00:25:05 The only explanation for that was that her pants had been pulled down after she was dragged to her final resting place. Cody started to realise that his story had been discredited, so he decided to revise it. Now, he said that he and Lauren had had sex in the truck on the logging road just before she got out of the truck. The sex had been fast and a little rough, he said. When they were done, Lauren began to pull up her pants, and that's when she started screaming and slapping herself in the face. Cody added that she obviously had problems. Dadwell decided to tell Cody another inconsistency that had been found in his story, one that centred on the injuries that caused Lauren's death. Because of the force and angle of the injuries to her face, preliminary forensics found it would have been impossible for her injuries to have been self-inflicted.

Starting point is 00:25:57 A human arm and hand just to not bend at the angle required for Lauren to have hit herself with a wrench with the force needed to cause the injuries she had, let alone stab herself in the neck with a knife. But Cody clung to his version of the story, protesting that he knew for a fact he didn't kill her. When asked if he blamed Lauren for the situation he was in, he said, quote, I blame her for hitting herself in the fucking face. It was clear from his tone that he was both annoyed and angry. Not seeing the movement they wanted in his story, the RCMP decided it was time to let Cody's girlfriend see him. The police hoped that she would inspire him to tell the truth. Amy Voll was just over five feet tall and petite, so looked tiny compared to Cody's husky frame. She quickly crossed the room, gave Cody a long hug and asked him what happened.

Starting point is 00:26:53 He continued to protest that he didn't kill anyone, that he wasn't raised like that. She told him she believed him. Dadwell told Cody that Amy deserved to know the truth. Cody responded that she did and he was going to tell it to her. Well, he went on to simply recount his latest story, that he'd met Lauren on the social networking site and they'd met up and had sex in his truck. Amy was shocked that he'd cheated on her. Cody told her again that he didn't kill Lauren. Corporal Yanicki then entered the room and reminded Cody of the inconsistencies between his story and the reality. Amy started to become more suspicious, all the while with Cody insisting he loved her and wasn't lying. Then Yanicki said, what about the drugs? Cody admitted he'd taken cocaine before he and Lauren met up. Amy was again visibly shocked. It seemed like that was the beginning of the last straw for Amy. She told Cody he'd clearly been lying to her the whole time and she couldn't trust him anymore.

Starting point is 00:27:57 After more prodding by police, Cody then admitted that he hit Lauren with a wrench, quote, just once or twice. Amy's face registered even more shock. Cody went on to say he thought Lauren was already dead, but he got scared when he saw the blood coming out of her. He saw the wrench on the ground and grabbed it and hurt her on the head to make sure she'd been put out of her misery. He reiterated that he only hit her after she'd already hurt herself. Yanicki then asked him if he knew anything about the young woman's body recently found in LC Gunn Park, Cynthia Ma. Cody said no. Yanicki then said there were so many similarities between Cynthia's murder and Lauren's murder. They were doing DNA testing and if it came back with a match, Cody was going to look like a monster. Cody turned to Amy and asked her for her forgiveness. She said she was mad at him. He told her, quote, you're the love of my life.

Starting point is 00:28:55 Amy said she couldn't trust him anymore and even though she believed his story, she couldn't stick with him for the rest of her life. They shared a long, silent embrace goodbye before Amy walked out the door without looking back. My name's John Weir. You don't know me, but you're Gunna. Because I know the people that have been watching you, learning about you. They know you've done well for yourself, that people like you and trust you. Now imagine what they're going to do with all that information that you freely shared with the whole world. Now imagine what they're going to do with all the information you have at it. Yeah, I'll be in touch.

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Starting point is 00:31:03 Every Square Space website and online store includes SEO tools to help you maximize your visibility in search engines and I love the powerful insights I can get from the analytics tools helping me better understand who's visiting the site, where they came from and how they're interacting with it. Do you have a passion project or business idea or something to sell? Go to squarespace.com.ctc for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use offer code CTC to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com.ctc with offer code CTC and get your passion project off the ground today. Ten months later, on October the 18th, 2011, following a lengthy investigation, the RCMP announced that in addition to the murder of Lauren Leslie, Cody Legibacoff would be charged with three new counts of first-degree murder. They cited 35-year-old Jill Stachenko, 23-year-old Natasha Montgomery and, of course, 35-year-old Cynthia Maher.

Starting point is 00:32:20 The body of 35-year-old Cynthia Maher, the mother of a little girl, had been found seven weeks before the night Cody had been detained by police. Cynthia was from a First Nations family, a collective term to describe the first people to Canada. She was described by her sister as having had some struggles. She was born with an unspecified disability and was vulnerable to people who might take advantage of her. Her cousin introduced her to cocaine and she quickly became addicted. Her addiction took her to the streets, where she relied on sex trade work to fund her habit. However, she wasn't happy with her life and had aspirations for more, so even while living that lifestyle she would continue to call her family and made an effort to attend AA and NA meetings.

Starting point is 00:33:10 Cynthia had been reported missing on September 23 after she had failed to check in with family and friends. This was just over two months before Cody's arrest. On October 8th, a police search team were looking in Elsie Gunn Park, about an hour's drive from Vanderhoof. The park was known to be frequented by sex trade workers. A member of the search team was looking along a tree line and noticed a very strong rotting smell which he assumed was rotting garbage. There he found Cynthia's decomposing remains. Like Lesley, Cynthia's pants had been pulled down to her ankles and she'd suffered stab wounds and blunt trauma to the chest along with fractured ribs, broken cheek and neck bones and fingers.

Starting point is 00:33:56 Her injuries were consistent with someone viciously stomping on her. It turns out that Cynthia Ma's DNA did match samples. It was later found on a sweater and a sock found in Cody's truck as well as a pickaxe tool and running shoes found in his apartment. The second victim, Natasha Montgomery, was last seen on August 31st, almost three months before Cody was detained, so about a month before Cynthia Ma was found. Like Cynthia, Natasha was also from a First Nations family and was a mother of two. She also had a drug habit. At the time of her disappearance, she'd made progress in staying sober.

Starting point is 00:34:38 She was motivated to become a better role model for her children. She had a bit of a rough life. Her father had been in and out of prison during her childhood and she tried and quickly became addicted to crystal meth when she was 17. Her strength in entering a rehab program saw her break her addiction and graduate from high school. Natasha liked to draw and she played the clarinet and trumpet and was a skilled figure skater and singer. After the birth of her youngest child in July 2006, she fell into a cocaine habit, which resulted in her serving time in a regional correctional center. On August 19th, over three months before Cody's arrest, she was released from prison

Starting point is 00:35:22 and told her mom that she was excited to be coming home and back in time for her daughter's birthday. Her mom never heard from her after that and reported her missing a month later. Her body has never been recovered. Despite this, forensic tests on the blood stains on the shorts Cody was wearing on the night of his arrest contained Natasha's DNA. It was also found on Cody's hoodie, on his bedsheets and in stains on the walls for curtains and bath mat of his apartment. Cody's first known victim, Jill Stuchenko, was reported missing 10 months before the other murders began. Cody was only 19 at the time. Jill was the mother of four boys and two girls who friends and family said she cared about immensely.

Starting point is 00:36:11 She was described as a warm and compassionate person and a talented singer. She also had struggles and was a frequent user of cocaine and as much as she tried and wanted to, she just couldn't shake the habit. She was also involved in the sex trade. A man collecting aluminium cans stumbled across her body, half buried in a gravel pit on the fringe of Prince George. Forensic analysis of the remains revealed that she died from a head injury and a skull fracture and much of the rest of her body was covered in bruises. The amount of blood loss was so extreme that the pathologist had trouble obtaining a sample during the autopsy. There was also strong evidence of a sexual assault. At the time, they took samples from Jill and the DNA profile of an unknown male was developed.

Starting point is 00:37:00 After Cody was arrested 10 months later and his DNA analyzed and run through the system, he was matched to this unknown male. Cody had been living at a different place at the time and police traced the investigation back to the basement apartment where he resided. Sure enough, Jill's DNA was found on blood stains on the carpet and also on the couch that had been in that apartment when Cody lived there. Although I couldn't find any information on how Cody met these victims, it's highly likely that it had something to do with drugs and his obsession with sex. With the announcement of these three new murders, Cody's home community were reeling in shock. Those who knew him said he was a typical kid. His high school principal said he was a pleasant hockey playing fella who enjoyed life at school and was liked by most everybody. Others said he had a loving family, was well liked by his peers and good at sports.

Starting point is 00:37:59 The Ledger-Bekoff family were described as pillars of the community. Cody's friends and co-workers echoed the thoughts that the Cody they knew had always been such a nice, normal kid who liked sports. One of his schoolmates said, quote, When my friend told me it was Cody, I wouldn't believe it. He was popular. He got along with everyone. He was fun, joked around, partied and stuff like that. Another friend noted that at the time of his arrest, Cody was sharing his apartment with three female friends and he'd never shown any signs of violence or aggression. Cody's own grandfather said that the Cody he knew, the Cody he took hunting and fishing, wouldn't do any of that. He said he just didn't understand it.

Starting point is 00:38:46 Lauren Leslie's family were able to find small comfort in the fact that their daughter's death ended a serial killer's career. It was obvious from the pattern of deaths, three of those in the months leading up to Cody's arrest, that he was ramping up his killing activity and would have continued had he not been caught. Elliot Layton, a forensic anthropologist and expert on serial killers, later pointed out the rarity of such a young killer, quote, The vast majority of serial killers are between 25 and 55. Occasionally there's someone in their 60s, but I've never heard of anyone in their teens. He went on to say that serial killers rarely began killing before their mid-20s because the neurological organizational ability needed to maintain a serial killing career doesn't develop before then. Also, typically, there was a ramping up period that usually began during early childhood, the torturing killing of animals, arson, strange behaviors. This wasn't evident with Cody, the killings just seemed to come out of nowhere. It was almost four years between Cody's arrest and when his trial began.

Starting point is 00:39:58 The trial was delayed a month while Cody's lawyer applied to have the trial moved from Prince George to Vancouver, but this application was rejected. On June 2, 2014, Cody appeared in court in Prince George. No longer the scruffy teenager, 24-year-old Cody now had a shaved head and a goatee, a look that had obviously been influenced by his years spent in prison awaiting trial. He wore an oversized black suit. Doug Leslie, Lauren's father, testified early on in the trial. He recounted how he couldn't identify his daughter because of the extent of her facial injuries. The way she was first identified was because Doug had told police she had a distinctive wrist tattoo. During cross-examination, Cody's lawyer asked about Lauren's mental health, trying to legitimize Cody's claim that she'd bludgeoned herself and cut her own throat with a knife. Doug acknowledged that Lauren had suffered from episodes of depression and had been hospitalized a couple of times but denied she was psychotic, bipolar or suicidal. An expert in forensic pathology then testified that Lauren Leslie had died from blows to the side of the head and a puncture wound to the neck and the injuries couldn't have been self-inflicted.

Starting point is 00:41:18 The court heard from the expert who had performed the autopsies on the bodies of Jill Stachenko and Cynthia Ma. About Jill, he said that significant force had been used to inflict the extensive injuries she'd received to her head and that, in his opinion, the wounds had be caused by at least two different weapons. He also saw bruising on her arms that suggested she'd tried to defend herself. About Cynthia, he testified that although her body had been badly decomposed, he said that, like Jill, she'd suffered more than a dozen violent blows from two or three different weapons and also had the bruising on her arms that was consistent with her trying to defend herself against a brutal attack. Several females testified how they'd bought cocaine for Cody on many occasions. One said that once she'd given Cody his drug purchase, she rode with him in his truck to a place where he said they wouldn't be seen smoking it. It was Elsie Gunn Park where the body of Cynthia Ma was later discovered. Next up to testify was Amy Voll, Cody's former girlfriend.

Starting point is 00:42:27 Cody, who had been stoic up until that point, lowered his head and briefly appeared to be holding back tears. Amy testified that she'd noticed stains at various locations in Cody's apartment, but he was always able to explain them away. He said he cut his foot one night while drunk, which resulted in a bloody handprint on the wall. He said that he'd had a nosebleed, which explained away the blood on the curtain. Other red-brown stains, such as a large one on the couch, were explained away in similar fashions. Another person to testify was RCMP Sergeant Beverly Zaporizan, a blood spatter analyst who'd also worked on the case of another infamous Canadian serial killer, Robert Picton. She'd conducted bloodstain analysis on samples taken from Cody's clothes, apartment and other relevant items. The results of her analysis, together with DNA results, tied Cody to all four murder victims.

Starting point is 00:43:29 The crown rested its case and it was time for the defence, and here's where things start to get a little crazy. Cody was called to the stand and his lawyer started asking him about his childhood, where everything was described as normal. He said he began drinking alcohol at 13 and later on began smoking marijuana. He'd also tried magic mushrooms a couple of times in high school. After having landed his job at the Ford dealership, he rented a house in Prince George with three girls he knew from home. He had the basement suite and they were in the upstairs bedrooms. He said before long they were regularly hosting house parties. He said that over 100 people would attend the parties and it was at one of the biggest parties that he first met X.

Starting point is 00:44:17 At this point, there was mass confusion in the court and BC Supreme Court Justice Glenn Parrott asked him to clarify what or who exactly he was talking about. No one had ever heard of anyone called X in the story. Cody's lawyer asked him to explain what was going on. So Cody did. Quote, there are three people, other people involved in these charges. I'm going to name them X, Y and Z because for what I've done, I know that I can get a significant amount of jail time. And that includes going to a federal penitentiary. Guys who give up names to cops are not treated with any respect in prison.

Starting point is 00:44:58 I will not go to a federal penitentiary as a rat on three murder charges. That's not on the cards. Cody then continued with his explanation of who X, Y and Z were and how they fitted into each story of the murders of Jill Stechenko, Cynthia Ma and Natasha Montgomery. I'm not going to recount each story in detail here because frankly at best they're not in the least bit interesting and at worst they're quite ridiculous. So I'm going to give you the Coles notes or the short version. X, Y and Z were drug dealers who attended the parties. Jill Stechenko arrived with one of them. Cody says he had sex with Jill saying, quote, she wasn't an ugly person so I figured I'd try my luck.

Starting point is 00:45:45 After that, one of the drug dealers told Cody that Jill had to die because she owed a lot of money. She was bludgeoned in Cody's apartment with part of the attack happening on his couch, he said. He helped put her body in the back of a pickup truck and says he cleaned up the blood where the body had been. For the next 10 months or so, Cody continued to socialize with these drug dealers and Smokeco came with them. He says no more incidents happened. He then moved house and continued socializing with them. The couch went with him. In a similar fashion, he was hosting another house party and the drug dealers arrived with Cynthia Ma or Cindy as they called her.

Starting point is 00:46:28 Cody was told she had to die too. He said he heard a snap and a thud and then saw Cynthia lying on the ground next to a thin looking tool. Cody then used his pickup truck and drove the anonymous drug dealers, plus Cynthia's body, to LC Gunn Park. But when they got there, they realized she wasn't dead, so Cody gave the pickaxe tool in his truck to one of the drug dealers and they finished the job. And the story for Natasha? Pretty much the same thing. According to Cody, the three drug dealers X, Y and Z arrived at his apartment with Natasha, told Cody she had to die, bludgeoned her in the apartment and then asked Cody for a sore. He said he didn't watch as they dismembered her body.

Starting point is 00:47:11 And as they had done with Jill, they took the body and Cody cleaned up his apartment. The judge would later remark that each story had X, Y and Z individually committing each of the three murders. Never did more than one person attack each victim. It was almost like Cody's storytelling ability was so rudimentary that he literally couldn't have more than one character in action at a time, even though the other two were present. After each motortail, Cody's lawyer asked him pointed questions, trying to elicit some shred of humanity or hint of remorse or regret. How were you feeling at the time? What were you thinking? Each time, Cody's response was cold and apathetic. Quote, obviously I didn't feel very good, but it was something that had to be done.

Starting point is 00:48:02 Or quote, I knew that what I had done wasn't right, but there really wasn't much that I could do. Cody's lawyer failed miserably to humanize his client. Evidently, Cody was unable to identify with the feelings that a normal person would have after witnessing, let alone being the perpetrator of murders as heinous as these. This fact did not go unnoticed with the jury. Upon cross-examination, the Crown Prosecutor Joseph Temple established Cody's history of lying to investigators and continuously changing his story when he felt backed into a corner. He also went into the many inconsistencies between Cody's various versions and also compared to what the evidence showed. He then pinned Cody down to the fact that he was the only person there for Lauren's death. There was no X, Y and Z. He then suggested that there was no other person there for Lauren's death. There was no X, Y and Z.

Starting point is 00:49:01 He suggested that they didn't exist, that they were created by Cody as a result of his desire to avoid being branded as a sex offender. Something that he thought was beneath him and that he feared would result in attacks on him in jail. And if they did exist, it was highly unlikely that given the short amount of time that he knew them, they would feel comfortable enough to murder one woman, let alone three, in his apartment, right in front of him. The Crown then challenged Cody's claim that X had killed Jill by hitting her in the head with a pipe. He said that the evidence showed that she was punched, stabbed to death and then bled to death on his couch. The Crown said it was obvious that Cody took her body out in his pickup and put her in the gravel pit. Cody didn't answer. The Crown went on to talk about Natasha Montgomery. He tried to pin Cody down on exactly how one of the three supposed drug dealers slit her throat with a knife. Cody was vague and he said he couldn't remember. In the end he ended up saying, I was under the influence of drugs at the time and wasn't really with it, I just passed him the knife.

Starting point is 00:50:09 Again, the jurors were not impressed. The Crown suggested that Natasha's body had never been found because Cody dismembered her body in his apartment to make disposal easier, given the difficulties he'd found in the public dumping of the bodies of Cynthia and Jill after their deaths. The Crown also emphasized the similarities among the four murders, including the sexual motivations behind them, the types of injuries, and the similar way in which Cody left the bodies that had been recovered. He suggested that the attacks came as a result of the victim's refusal to meet Cody's sexual demands, as evidenced by Lauren's text messages in which she said, quote, we're just hanging out, right? Nothing sexual. To close, upon questioning, Cody admitted he'd lied to the RCMP officers, the conservation officer, and his own girlfriend. Then the Crown asserted, quote, you're lying to the jury too about Mr. X, Y, and Z. They don't exist, do they? Yes, they do, Cody snarled, the resentment in his voice unmistakable. The Crown concluded his argument. By this time, the trial had been going for three and a half months and had heard from over a hundred witnesses.

Starting point is 00:51:29 Before the jury went to deliberations, defense attorney Heller informed the justice that Cody now wanted to plead guilty to four counts of second degree murder. The Crown wasn't having it. Cody's plea was denied. The jury deliberated for less than a day and the verdict was guilty of first degree murder on all four counts. As the verdict was read, Cody gave no reaction, seemingly oblivious to what they were saying. Upon sentencing, the BC Supreme Court Justice Glenn Parrott praised Constable Caller for following his gut instinct when he first saw Cody's pickup truck on the remote highway. The justice dismissed Cody's story about X, Y, and Z as a fabrication and concluded that Cody was the only one there at the murders of Jill, Cynthia, and Natasha at his own apartment. He said that the use of weapons Cody chose were carefully selected with the goal of, quote, dominating, degrading, and destroying the targeted victim. In several parts of his statement, the justice choked up with emotion. He said, quote, these are not the actions of a simple killer, but of something infinitely worse. He lacks any shred of empathy or remorse. He should never be allowed to walk among us again. For each murder charge, Cody was sentenced to life without eligibility for parole until he'd served 25 years of that sentence. However, each sentence would run concurrently. And as all four murders happened as a result of Cody either committing or attempting to commit a sexual assault, he was also put on the sex offenders register.

Starting point is 00:53:13 As Cody was led away in cuffs, an onlooker from the gallery yelled at him to reveal where Natasha's body was. Again, Cody showed no emotion. Outside the courthouse, First Nations drummers gathered and chanted the Woman's Warrior song in a sort of bittersweet celebration for the verdict they had all hoped for. Guilty. Cody Legibokov convicted on all four counts of first-degree murder. But for the family of one of his victims, Natasha Montgomery, the verdict isn't enough. Natasha's body was never recovered. And I want to remind the public to please keep an eye out for her remains. All the time I was in that courtroom, I just wanted to grab them. Not easy to sit and listen to his granddaughter's killer and his make-believe about accomplices, Mr. X, Y and Z. When the verdict was read, Legibokov was totally still, no reaction at all. But the community is remembering the victims. Sidebar. Many news reports after the verdict announced Cody as Canada's youngest serial killer, but actually he's not. That dubious title goes to Peter Woodcock.

Starting point is 00:54:57 In 1957, he was imprisoned for the rape and murder of three young children in Toronto. He was found not guilty by a reason of insanity and was imprisoned for the rest of his life. Despite this, he still managed to kill another inmate before his own death in 2010. So what about Cody's family in all of this? They've stayed away from media and the public for this case. In fact, according to one source, they didn't even attend his trial. The only person from Cody's family who spoke on the record was his grandfather, Roy Goodwin. He said, quote, he had a good upbringing. Everything was perfect. Everybody liked him. There wasn't a person that had a bad thing to say about him. Nobody. Cody's grandfather then went on to say, quote, there must be a split personality or something wrong in his head. He needs a doctor to help him. He also said that he'd spoken to Cody's parents and that almost a year after his initial arrest, they're still coming to terms with it. They're a little better, I think, he said. It's quite a shock, though.

Starting point is 00:56:07 In February 2015, Cody filed an appeal of his sentence saying the denial of his request to change the trial's venue from Prince George to Vancouver put him at a disadvantage due to the extensive media coverage his case received in his local area. And in September 2016, all three judges in the BC Court of Appeal endorsed the original judge's decision, saying that most of the media coverage was throughout British Columbia, not just the Prince George area. So moving the trial to another area in BC wouldn't have made a difference. Lauren Leslie is considered to be a victim of the Highway of Tears murders, a group of 19 women, mostly First Nations, who went missing along a 720 kilometre stretch of highway close to where Lauren was murdered. The disappearances started in 1969, with the latest one being in 2011. Lauren Leslie's 2010 murder was just before that. To date, hers is the only one of the murders that has been solved. Lastly, you'll remember in the previous episode, Paul Bernardo was eligible to apply for early release under a faint hope clause and decided not to. Well, Cody Legibacoff will be eligible to apply for this in 2029 after having served just 15 years in prison. This means he could be a free man when he's just 39 years old.

Starting point is 00:57:42 Thanks for listening, and thanks to everyone who's taken the time to give me feedback, leave a review or pass on kind words. I won't read the reviews, but I will thank you all by name. So thanks to those who left posts and sent messages on the Canadian True Crime Facebook page, cameo, Sarah, Christy, Jill, Christina, Cass, Josh, Marie, Victoria, Kylie and Chris. And those who left iTunes reviews, KY Savangal, Mingus, Wendell Fish, Doodle Doo 119, Klee Close, I'm Mishmash, Livyapet73, Nick C-Z-Y-Z-E-W-S from the UK, I'm sorry Nick, I couldn't figure out how to pronounce that. Nick ended the review with, I love this wee potty, which gave me a bit of a chuckle. Thank you, Nick. And also, podcast underscore Madness, who I'm pretty sure is my buddy Tyler from the Minds of Madness podcast. If you haven't checked that out, you should probably do that. And a huge thank you to Allie, Brett, Michelle, Tyler, Lenny, TJ and Livia, who I've seen recommending this podcast to people around Facebook groups. And of course, everyone in the Facebook group called Podcasts We Listen To who've said nice things and left feedback. If I've missed anyone, I apologize and thank you very much. And lastly, a big thanks to my real life friends for your feedback, support and kind words. You know who you are.

Starting point is 00:59:20 I'll be back soon with another Canadian true crime story. If you have any story suggestions, please feel free to send them to me. I'm aiming to publish new episodes every three to four weeks. I wish it could be more frequent, but I work full time and I also have two tiny Canadians to look after. Thanks again and see you soon. My name is John Weir. You don't know me, but you're gonna, because I know the people that have been watching you, learning about you. They know you've done well for yourself, that people like you and trust you. Now imagine what they're gonna do with all that information that you freely shared with the whole world. Now imagine what they're gonna do with all the information you have at it. Yeah, I'll be in touch.

Canadian True Crime - 03 Cody Legebokoff

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