Canadian True Crime - 56 The Murder of Loretta Saunders - Part 1

Episode Date: December 1, 2019

Halifax, Nova Scotia - In 2014, 26 year old Loretta Saunders – a proud Inuk woman – was in Halifax completing her university thesis on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. She went out to run an errand and didn’t return. What happened to her – and the resulting activism of her family – would have far-reaching effects.*A collaboration with Nighttime Podcast. Find out more about:Missing and Murdered: Finding CleoFollow Delilah Saunders on TwitterSponsor codesI appreciate all the support of my sponsors and collaborators - see the codes here :)Credits:Research: Enya Best and Kristi LeeWriting, narration, music arrangement: Kristi LeeAudio editing, audio production: We Talk of DreamsDisclaimer voiced by the host of Beyond Bizarre True Crime Theme Song: We Talk of DreamsAll other credits - including information sources - can be found on the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast contains coarse language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised. The Inuit are the indigenous people of the Arctic regions of Greenland, Alaska, and Canada. They're known as hunters and gatherers. They're nomadic and agile, moving seasonally as they need to. The Inuit are experts of their own environment with a vast knowledge of snow and ice, the wildlife and their cycles, as well as the weather. In Canada, they can be found in Quebec, various parts of the Northwest Territories,

and in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. For thousands of years, the Inuit thrived independently in these regions. Their history was largely unrecorded, except for the passing down of stories from generation to generation. They sustained themselves through their own resourcefulness, experience, and knowledge. But all this changed the first time they came into contact with Europeans. In the 18th century, European fur traders, fishermen, whalers, and other business people started to visit the region to make money during the summer. The Inuit were roped into doing fur trapping for Hudson's Bay Company,

an organisation that went on to become an iconic Canadian retail business group. Because the Inuit weren't familiar with the way Europeans did things, they were taken advantage of. Their complex way of life and their equilibrium was disrupted. Along with new business practices, the Europeans also introduced them to alcohol and diseases like the flu and the measles that the Inuit had no experience with. Large numbers of them died of resulting illness. Over time, the Inuit found themselves becoming more and more dislodged

from their culture, traditions, and independence. The seas had been fished and depleted of important resources. The fur trade had ended. They were lost. In the meantime, the Europeans decided that they were going to stay and settle. They had plans for this new land they'd discovered, so they set about establishing control over the land and the indigenous communities who inhabited it first.

Europeans forced their laws, system of government, religion, and traditions on the Inuit in addition to other indigenous groups including Métis and First Nations. The Europeans didn't understand the indigenous culture. They decided it would be best for everyone if indigenous culture was dismantled. The Europeans wanted to assume the territory, populate it with settlers, apply their own systems of law, government, and religion, and exploit this new territory economically. They wanted to colonize.

In the late 1900s, the government realized that to be successful in their plans, they would need to relocate indigenous people from their traditional lands to somewhere else. Remote pieces of land were chosen, referred to as bands or reserves. Various treaties resulted in the introduction of the Indian Act, which details the rights and freedoms of indigenous people who were to live on those reserves and operates externally to the governing laws of the rest of Canada. Those who didn't sign the treaties were relocated anyway. Indigenous people were told that this would be a good solution for them.

The effects of this dramatic shift were devastating. Indigenous people were now far away from the lands they'd known in isolated areas and without the means to be independent and sustain themselves. Next to come was extreme poverty. Around the same time, the government created a system of residential boarding schools. Kids from Inuit, Métis, and First Nations communities, who were referred to as savages, were ripped from their families and taken to the schools, where they were expected to embrace Western culture.

The government funded the schools, and the majority of them were run by churches. The government's plan was that once the re-education of the indigenous children was complete, they would bring all they'd learned home with them and influence their families. Here's what happened. The education at the residential schools was inferior. The expectation was that all the kids would only speak English, and if they were caught speaking their native languages, they were brutally punished. Around 150,000 indigenous kids were taken from their families and placed in these residential schools.

Many of them experienced severe physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse, all the while dealing with the trauma of being rounded up and taken from their families. And it's estimated that up to 6,000 of them died while in a residential school. Starting from the late 1950s, the government noticed the extreme poverty amongst the Inuit, Métis, and First Nations communities on the reserves. So they decided that they would try to help them out by forcibly removing their children and putting them with middle-class white families to be fostered and adopted. Some 20,000 indigenous kids were taken in what was called the 60s Scoop.

The government considered it welfare. The consequences of the 60s Scoop were just as devastating as the residential schools program. The government of Canada now officially recognises that its actions and policies were disastrous. Apologies have been made, but no apology could erase the shared legacy among indigenous people, an increased prevalence of post-traumatic stress, substance abuse, and alcoholism, as well as suicide. Today, indigenous people still deal with high unemployment, extreme poverty, poor drinking water, poor health, insufficient housing, and impoverished social and health services, and a high number of missing and murdered indigenous women.

This is one of those stories. It was 2014 and 26-year-old Loretta Saunders was studying criminology at St Mary's University in Halifax, the capital city of the province of Nova Scotia. Everyone knew Loretta as bright and lively with a strong independent spirit. Loretta was also a proud Inuk woman. She was originally from the Inuit from Newfoundland and Labrador in the town of Happy Valley Goose Bay, located in the central part of Labrador. In 2014, though, she was living in Halifax, where she had moved for her studies.

Loretta had an all-consuming interest in everything to do with the history, traditions, and culture of the Inuit. But there was another aspect of her heritage that she was intensely interested in and had chosen to study, the high number of indigenous women and girls who were missing and found murdered. She was actually doing her honors degree thesis on the topic at St Mary's University in Halifax, and she was also studying to take the LSAT and apply to law school. Loretta had been sharing an apartment in Halifax with her 21-year-old sister Delilah Saunders for a few years. But Delilah had decided to spread her wings and move to British Columbia, leaving her room in the apartment vacant. Loretta also had a boyfriend, a fellow student at SMU.

Yelchin Sekulte was originally from Turkey, and he and Loretta had been together for two and a half years. Loretta was informed that funding for her graduate research project had been cut off, so she decided to sublet her apartment and move in with Yelchin to save some money. She advertised her apartment on Kijiji, a couple in their 20s applied, and they moved in. A month later, on February 13, 2014, Yelchin and Loretta were discussing a situation that had arisen. It had been a month since the couple had moved into her apartment, but they had yet to pay any rent. They owed her $430. She'd called and gone over to ask them several times, and had been told that they were getting it for her, but they never did.

And now, the landlord was knocking on Loretta's door to collect it. So, on that Thursday in February, Loretta was starting to get fed up and planned to confront them about it again. She said goodbye to Yelchin and left for her old apartment. She was wearing dark blue jeans, a black Columbia jacket, and tan boots. Yelchin didn't hear from Loretta again all day. It was strange, but he didn't really know what to do. She wasn't answering or replying. Finally, that night, his phone beeped. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was from his girlfriend's number.

She said, I'm so stressed that I can't like even remember my own mother's maiden name. The message went on to say that she'd been locked out of her online banking, and to be able to get back in, she had to put in her mother's maiden name. She asked him if he remembered what it was. Yelchin immediately felt like there was something wrong, and he couldn't make sense of it. The next day, Valentine's Day, as the annual Women's Memorial marches were held in cities across Canada to memorialise missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, Loretta's sister Delilah received a strange message. It was about 1pm, and all the message said was,

Hey! It was from Loretta. Delilah replied with a question, but got nothing else back. For the next few days, Loretta was still nowhere to be found, but her family continued to receive similar text messages from her phone, or they would message her and get a short response back. They didn't quite know what to make of it. After three days, and still no physical sign of Loretta,

they decided that enough was enough, and reported her missing to Halifax Regional Police. This is Christy, and you're listening to Canadian True Crime, Episode 56. The media started reporting the news, asking for the public's help in locating Loretta. She was described as a white woman, because although she was inook, she had fair features and the picture showed her with blonde hair, although it was dyed. The public were told that she was 5'7", and 120 pounds, with light brown, straight hair. She was believed to be driving a blue 2000 Toyota Celica, with a Newfoundland license plate, and it was distinctive because the car had a loud muffler and spoiler at the back.

Through the media, the police said there was no information to suggest that Loretta had met with foul play, but they were concerned for her well-being. Loretta's own family started their own search efforts. Her sister Delilah immediately started a Facebook group called Help Bring Loretta Saunders Home, with social media posts using the hashtag Find Loretta. Delilah immediately started making plans to fly back to Halifax from Victoria, British Columbia. Momentum started growing, and a crowdfunding campaign was started to print missing posters and help fly other relatives to Halifax to search for Loretta.

Soon, nearly $3,000 had been raised. Seven members of the family came to Halifax to search, including of course Delilah, who posted as soon as she arrived, I'm here in Halifax, we're going to find my girl. Using the leftover money from the crowdfunding campaign, the family printed more than 2,000 posters and papered the city of Halifax, pleading for anyone with information to come forward. Loretta Barbara Grace Saunders was born August 25, 1987, to parents Miriam and Clayton.

Clayton Saunders was a mix of Inuit and European descent, and was a survivor of Canada's residential school system. His wife Miriam was also in Inuit. Loretta was Clayton's first daughter and she was described as the apple of his eye. She was smart too. As she got older, she decided she wanted to be a detective or a lawyer. Loretta's brother Edmund would say that she was the one who was going somewhere. The Saunders family was large and noisy and they were always looking after lost kids.

Delilah would write, quote, The house was always bustling with energy, but that only lasted so long before we discovered drugs and alcohol. Soon the abuses rolled in. Loretta started having some issues in high school and ended up dropping out early, moving out of home and leaving for Montreal. But things there spiralled out of control. Loretta got herself into some situations that would later be described by her sister Delilah as

really unfortunate and very scary. After several years, Loretta decided it was time to return home. She'd been through an ordeal, but she was strong. She decided to try to turn her life around. She finished her high school equivalency in Labrador and was then offered a place at St Mary's University in Halifax. In 2010, Loretta was thrilled to have her little sister Delilah come to live with her in Halifax. The two were pretty much inseparable.

Loretta always had a fascination with her Indigenous heritage, but she really started getting into it more at university. Every day she would call her mother Miriam asking more and more questions and often crying when she received the answers. Her brother Edmund remembers that when Loretta came home to Happy Valley Goose Bay to visit family, she told him about the thesis proposal she was researching, which was at 11,000 words. She told him she was shocked when she learned about the high number of Indigenous women and girls that had been murdered or were missing in Canada.

According to a 2014 report that had just been released by the RCMP, 1,017 women and girls who identified as Indigenous had been murdered since 1980. This was a homicide rate about four and a half times higher than that of other women in Canada. And not only that, but at least 105 Indigenous women and girls were still officially missing under suspicious circumstances at the time. Loretta's thesis proposal was about her own personal struggles as an Inuk woman, dealing with a traumatic history that had ongoing effects. The thesis was her life's work.

According to her sister Delilah, quote, she saw herself in the statistics, she saw me in them, the people we grew up with. As Loretta wrote in that thesis proposal, her story isn't unique, quote, I now know that many of my past experiences are a part of a vicious cycle that has been passed down through generations. This can no longer be accepted by our women and girls. Loretta's professor and thesis supervisor at SMU, Darryl LaRoe, would call her a uniquely brilliant student and describe her proposal

as the best written project he'd ever read in seven years of university teaching. Just weeks before Loretta went missing, she and Yelchin found out that she was pregnant. The couple were surprised but excited. Loretta's little sister Delilah was exploring British Columbia by this point and squealed and wept tears of joy when she received the news. 21-year-old Delilah told her protective older sister that she planned to hitchhike across Vancouver Island. Loretta was livid about the plans, telling her, it's not just one indigenous girl going missing, it's being declared a national epidemic.

On February the 18th, the day after Loretta was reported missing and five days after she was last seen, there was a breakthrough in the case. The police reported that they received information that led them to contact the Ontario Provincial Police or OPP for assistance. Loretta's distinctive car with its Newfoundland number plate had been located in Southern Ontario in the community of Harrow, about 21 hours drive away from Halifax. And not long after that, the news broke that two people had been arrested

and had been charged with possession of stolen property. The names given were 28-year-old Victoria Hennaberry and 25-year-old Blake Leggett and the public was advised that they were both known to police in Halifax as well as in Calgary, Alberta. It didn't take the media long to confirm that this was the couple that Loretta had rented her apartment to. The couple had Loretta's car and they also had her ID, phone and bank card and Blake had bruising on his face, evidence of a fierce struggle. But still, there was no sign of Loretta and the police said they didn't yet know how the car ended up in Ontario.

With this discovery, concern for Loretta's well-being had now turned into outright fear for her life. Her brother Edmund told the National Post that the family was now at the point where they were expecting the worst. Quote, she wouldn't go this long without talking to her dad. We just want to know where she is and bring her home. Delilah posted to social media, she is a proud inook whose thesis topic is on missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada so she knows better than to just disappear like this. Meanwhile, the two people who had rented Loretta's apartment and who'd been found in a different province with her car

appeared briefly in a Windsor, Ontario courtroom. Blake Leggett and Victoria Hennaberry were also accused of using Loretta's debit card in the time between when she disappeared and when her car was found. They were ordered to wait in custody for Halifax police to bring them back to Nova Scotia. With the police being relatively tight-lipped about the situation, the media scoured the couple's Facebook profiles. They discovered Victoria had attended university in Alberta for a time. She'd gone by several different last names and had a history of online feuds. Acquaintances described the couple as nomadic and both of them were already wanted on outstanding arrest warrants.

Blake had failed to appear in court in Calgary and there was a warrant for Victoria's arrest after a threatening incident several years before. In the meantime, Halifax Constable Pierre Bordage reported that given these circumstances and the time that had passed since Loretta was last seen, the case had been officially upgraded to suspicious and the RCMP Integrated Major Crime Unit had taken over the investigation. Again, the public were encouraged to come forward with any information they might have had, including if they saw Loretta's distinctive blue Toyota Celica anywhere between Nova Scotia and Ontario. But despite the progress in the investigation, Loretta Saunders was still missing after all. Police had been able to get video footage from her apartment building and it showed her entering the apartment by herself. She wasn't seen on camera, leaving. This was the last time anyone saw her.

There was a taxi parked outside the apartment and police issued a news release appealing to the public for information on the driver of this taxi, saying that he may have witnessed Loretta's disappearance. They did find the driver but no further light was shed on what might have happened to Loretta. In the meantime, Loretta's little sister Delilah was working with the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association to continue the efforts to raise awareness. They staged a news conference at the Native Friendship Centre in Halifax, firstly asking for people to come forward if they'd seen Loretta or her car. Delilah then went on to talk about her sister's strength. Quote, That's what's keeping me going through this, knowing that she wouldn't want us wasting time crying, sitting around feeling bad. If I was missing, she'd be doing the exact same thing, probably even more. She's definitely the strongest, most beautiful soul, the most incredible woman there is. She's so smart. She is my world. She is my everything. By now, the fundraising efforts had also increased, with thousands more dollars being raised and donated by local companies to help bring Loretta's five brothers and parents from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia to help.

Delilah said they needed to be together when they found out what was going on. The parents of Loretta's boyfriend Yelchin were also arranging for visas to fly to Halifax from Turkey to aid in the search. Yelchin spoke to CBC News, giving his side of the story. He spoke of those strange text messages he received from Loretta, asking for him to provide her mother's maiden name. He said that it didn't seem real to him. Quote, This is the calmest I've been for a while. I just keep having breakdowns. I don't know what to do. He confirmed that Loretta had found out she was pregnant just a few weeks beforehand and was about to have a blood test done to confirm it. He added that he thought they would be together for a long time. Quote, She meant everything to me. She was pretty much the one I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. On February the 25th, 2014, a candlelight vigil was held for Loretta in Halifax, with more than 200 people gathering in Parade Square, holding signs and speaking to the crowd. It was a highly emotional gathering. A group of MiGma women played the drums and sang.

That same day, Blake and Victoria were taken back to Halifax. Because they were caught in possession of the stolen car in Ontario, they faced court on those charges there. But Halifax was where they stole the car, so they faced separate charges. The OPP also charged Blake with fraud for allegedly using Loretta's bank card. The next day came shocking news. The RCMP Integrated Major Crime Unit alongside Halifax Regional Police announced they were now treating Loretta's disappearance as a homicide. They clarified that her remains hadn't yet been found, but they had identified suspects in the homicide and charges were anticipated. Loretta's mother Miriam Saunders posted on Facebook that she and the family were getting strength from the public's prayers. Later that same day, investigators found Loretta's remains two weeks after she'd gone missing. She'd been dumped in the median strip of the Trans-Canada Highway about three hours away from Halifax near Salisbury in the province of New Brunswick.

The police would say that Loretta's remains had not been found randomly by a bystander or a driver in the area. They had been led there through their investigation. Loretta's family were distraught and relied on Cheryl Maloney, president of the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association, to be a spokesperson for them. Cheryl had previously been interviewed by Loretta as part of her thesis and was a friend of the family. She thanked the community for its support and asked that the family be given time to deal with the news. She added that everyone had fallen in love with Loretta, quote, She wasn't what society expected for a missing girl, a missing Aboriginal girl. She was a young university student. But she is at risk. She is vulnerable. Every Aboriginal girl in this country is vulnerable. In the hours after Loretta's remains were discovered, almost 2,000 people joined a memorial page that had been set up on Facebook for her.

Messages of condolence were posted from complete strangers as well as posts from her friends. One friend described her as intelligent and strong. Another described her as an angel with a steady smile and a great sense of humour. The Nova Scotia legislature held a moment of silence to honour Loretta. The next day, the police made the announcement that everyone saw coming. 28-year-old Victoria Hennaberry and 25-year-old Blake Leggett had been charged with first-degree murder. There was heavy security presence in the Halifax courtroom as Loretta's friends and family attended the first hearing, some of them wearing purple shirts that said, Stop violence against Aboriginal women. Victoria didn't appear in court and chose to have her lawyer represent her, but Blake attended.

As he entered the courtroom, a man in the gallery yelled, You gutless coward! and other expressions of anger before he was reprimanded by security. Blake Leggett stared ahead as the case was adjourned for a few weeks. Outside court, Delilah Saunders said she drew strength from Loretta's memory, which enabled her to keep her composure when she saw the person who had murdered her. Delilah added she dealt with things the way Loretta would have. Quote, I felt Loretta living inside of me, which sounds crazy, but I feel her energy and I feel like her sometimes. Loretta's family expressed their relief that after autopsy, her remains were going to be returned to her parents in Happy Valley Goose Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador. Barbara Coffey, her aunt, said quote, Not very often are Aboriginal people returned and she's being returned home.

During the search for Loretta, momentum had built with the ongoing discussion on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across the country. Loretta's family and some members of parliament were vocal about the need for a national inquiry and action plan to address the problem. Several of Loretta's family members said that her life and the tragic way she'd died had shone a spotlight on the issue of violence against Indigenous women and that they hoped it would not be forgotten. And the great irony, of course, was that Loretta was writing her thesis on that very topic. Delilah said, Loretta made a grand point and she hasn't died in vain. On March the 3rd, the Aboriginal Society at St Mary's University held a traditional smudging, a cultural ceremony practised by Indigenous people in Canada that involves the burning of medicinal plants or leaves for cleansing purposes. After the ceremony, the school raised the MiGMA Grand Council flag at half-mast to signal mourning. Two days later, hundreds gathered in Ottawa for a vigil on Parliament Hill.

The goal was to call on the government to hold a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls because so far it had failed to take any action. Cheryl Maloney, President of the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association, said that people expected Indigenous women to be in the drug trade or sex industry. Quote, But actually, if you look at the statistics, we've had grandmothers, activists and university students. So Loretta, her story broke through all those barriers and stereotypes of what the problem was and whose fault it was. Cheryl Maloney went on to say that she struggled with Loretta's unfinished thesis and wondered who would finish it. Quote, Maybe it wasn't up to one person to finish Loretta's thesis. Maybe it was up to all of us Canadians. The renewed protests and calls for government action prompted the Indigenous nationhood movement to launch a social media campaign with the hashtag ItEndsHere. On March the 8th, 2014, hundreds of Loretta's friends and family attended a celebration of her life in Happy Valley Goose Bay in Labrador.

She was remembered as a strong, smart, beautiful, Inuk woman. Her family were relieved that her remains were back in the community where she was from and they now wanted to finish her thesis. That same week, the leaders of Nova Scotia's three main political parties called for a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Momentum was continuing to build. Not much was known about Blake Leggett and Victoria Hanna Berry. Victoria's former housemate, Christina, spoke with CBC News, saying that she shared a hotel room with Victoria nearly two years beforehand. Twenty-year-old Christina wouldn't speak about why they were living in a hotel room, just that they were in the middle of some rough times. Christina said she didn't know a lot about Victoria's past, but did know that she'd lived in homeless shelters.

She added, quote, I knew the person Victoria. I can't believe she'd do something like this. She was a sweetheart, but for her to do this, she ain't sweet. Christina went on to say that she actually knew Loretta Saunders, too, and that they used to say hi to each other in the hallway, quote, she was such a smart girl. She had her head on her shoulders and she didn't deserve this. Do you have a passion project that you're ready to take to the next level? Square Space makes it easy for anyone to create an engaging web presence, grow a brand and sell anything from your products to the content you create and even your time. When I launched this passion project six years ago, I needed some kind of online hub to manage all the non-podcasting tasks that come with podcasting. I chose Square Space because it's an all-in-one platform that seamlessly helps me achieve multiple goals. It's important to have a website that looks good, and I was inspired by Square Space's wide selection of clean and modern templates.

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On April the 8th, 2014, almost two months after Loretta was last seen, guards at the central Nova Scotia correctional facility where Blake Leggett was being detained discovered a mop handle was missing. Guards searched the west block of the prison, concerned that an inmate had taken it to whittle it into a shank type weapon. The guards arrived at the cell that Blake shared with another inmate, and one of them discovered a cylinder on a shelf that looked like it could be a good hiding spot for a missing mop handle. While they didn't find the mop handle, they did find something else. The cylinder was actually two toilet paper rolls that were joined together with toothpaste. The toilet rolls had writing on the outside, describing the item as personal and confidential, saying that it belonged to Blake's cellmate. When the guard opened the rolls, she discovered a bunch of paper with handwriting on it, and flicked through the pages. She called in her supervisor who discovered that, written on the pages, was Blake's story about the events surrounding the murder of Loretta Saunders.

It was addressed to his cellmate. He wrote, You'd almost think I was famous. I'm not proud at all. On the inside, I'm sad and remorseful. He starts off by introducing himself, before going on to describe a miserable childhood. He didn't know his father when he was young, had lived in a foster home, and had been abused physically and mentally by several of his mother's partners. Blake wrote that at age seven, his father came into his life, ended up taking custody of him, and it wasn't long after this before his father started physically and mentally abusing him as well. Blake detailed multiple beatings, some of which landed him in hospital. He yo-yo'd between living with each of his parents, describing himself at this time as damaged and angry. Blake Leggett said the reason he was writing all of this is that his cellmate was writing a book about his time in jail, and wanted him to write a chapter for it.

Blake mentioned a book deal a few times, adding that he wanted to spin the story into gold. He then wrote about Victoria Hennaberry, saying that their financial issues were caused by her spending habits. He said they fought all the time, but even so he loved her, quote, never thought I'd kill for her. He accused Victoria of stabbing him in the back and ratting him out. He then said that she'll be going away for life, quote, going to be blaming Victoria for it so I don't do life in prison. Despite writing that he intended on blaming Victoria at the trial, Blake went on to write an account of what happened, starting from when Loretta came over to confront he and Victoria about their multiple missed rent payments. He wrote that Loretta came into the apartment and said she was there to collect the rent. Victoria gave the excuse that she'd lost her bank card and ID so she couldn't access her money.

She said she was going to the bedroom to make a phone call to the bank to see about getting a new card. While this was going on, Blake said he was chatting with Loretta, who told him that her boyfriend Yelchin was making a nice dinner and she needed to collect some plates from her apartment. Victoria seemed to be taking a while and Loretta asked Blake if the rent money was actually available, that is, if Victoria was able to access her bank account. Blake said that he told her yes. Loretta then sat down on the couch to wait for Victoria and played on her phone. According to Blake's writing, he then went into the bedroom to speak with Victoria. He said to her, should I do it? Victoria replied that he didn't have the balls. Blake wrote that this response made him angry. He replied, really, okay?

In the letter, Blake recounted that he walked back to the living room, came up behind the couch and in one motion grabbed Loretta by the throat and proceeded to choke her. Loretta kicked off the couch and they ended up in the dining room with Blake saying he still had her by the throat. He then said for some reason his attempts to choke her weren't working. Loretta was fighting back with everything she had, so Blake yelled to Victoria to come and help him. Victoria brought over a plastic bag. Loretta fought for her life and tore through three different bags that he tried to use, presumably to suffocate her. He said that finally he grabbed Loretta by the head and smashed her twice on the floor to knock her out. It worked. Blake wrote that he proceeded to wrap her head in plastic wrap to make sure she was actually dead. He wrote that after he'd confirmed that Loretta was dead, he felt relieved, stress-free and that all his anger had suddenly disappeared.

He wrote that he picked up the overturned coffee table and then he and Victoria packed their clothes. Right before they left, he dumped Loretta's body into a grey hockey bag. He wrote that Victoria told him she was scared of him now, scared that he might do the same to her, but he reassured her that she was the reason he did it. He handed Loretta's phone and ID to Victoria. He picked up the hockey bag containing Loretta's body, carried it down the hallway, into the elevator and out to the sidewalk. He left it on the sidewalk as he went to get Loretta's car. He put the hockey bag into the trunk of the car, along with the items that he and Victoria had packed. He said he, Victoria and their cat got into the car and drove off. Blake then continued to write about his plan to act like Victoria was the one who murdered Loretta. Quote, I don't care if she isn't the one who actually killed Loretta. It's what I will hopefully make everyone believe. That is how I will make her pay for the last three years.

He described how he was angry at himself for killing Loretta because he was facing life in prison and that's why he was going to blame Victoria for it. And then he wrote something shocking. Quote, In the end, I murdered a woman and even now as I did that day, it does not bother me. I think I wanted to do it as much as Victoria wanted me to. If it wouldn't have been Loretta Saunders, it would have been someone else and she probably won't be the last. I struck a nerve that afternoon, a thirst. It will never be a woman that I can promise. It will be someone who deserves it. As Blake and Victoria waited in prison for their time in court, the family and friends of Loretta Saunders continued with their mission. In February of 2015, to commemorate the first anniversary of Loretta's death, Delilah organised a vigil in St John's, Newfoundland. She told the Independent that the entire family had struggled to cope with the loss of Loretta and she felt compelled to honour both her sister and her sister's unborn child. Delilah added she was glad people were attending vigils and educating themselves on both the tragic and ironic death of her sister and also on the bigger picture of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.

Delilah had taken up where Loretta left off with writing, saying that it was a way to deal with that grief. She'd been blogging, writing stories, working on a book and had plans to write columns and opinion pieces for various publications. Quote, Loretta's death has been extremely traumatic and life-changing, but the silver lining has been reflecting on the time we spent together and my newfound ability to absorb the things that she tried to teach me. I feel her spirit within me, but in a weird way I'm coming into my own. I've learned to live more fearlessly in respect to my aspirations and goals, but that was how she lived her life. Meanwhile, calls were still being made for the government to launch a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Just a few months beforehand, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had rebuffed the calls, saying that it wasn't high on the government's radar. There was still work to be done. The preliminary hearing began for Blake Leggett and Victoria Hennaberry to determine if there was enough evidence to go to trial. Loretta's friends and family travelled from Labrador to attend the hearing, many bringing signs with photos of Loretta. Loretta's mother Miriam screamed, What did you do to my daughter? Coward, tell me. Emotions were high with many crying as evidence was presented. Several had to leave the room. Outside the courthouse, Loretta's brother Edmund yelled, Coward, to Blake as he arrived. Edmund then spoke to reporters, saying that his family had been destroyed by Loretta's death.

Quote, Every day I wake up with the echoes of my mother's wailing. Her grief when she heard my sister and her unborn baby were dead. My parents have been robbed of a daughter and a granddaughter. They were looking forward to the sheer joy of a baby and now they are left with this. On one day, Loretta's family had to hold back her uncle as he lunged at one of the accused. Blake and Victoria were hustled from the courtroom as sheriff's deputies poured in to contain the situation. It was Loretta's own family who diffused the situation, telling her uncle over and over again, We're here for Loretta. Trial dates were set with Victoria's lawyer asking for a separate trial for his client. Just before the trial began, Blake's defense asked the presiding judge to exclude his written confession from the evidence that would be presented to the jury. He wrote that Blake, now 26, had only completed education up to grade 9, was obsessed with the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and was also naive about being an inmate since this was his first time in prison. The insinuation was that Blake had played up the details of his confession to impress other inmates. The request to have the letters excluded was denied. But it ended up being a moot point. In April of 2015, just as the trial was starting, Blake and Victoria suddenly decided to enter guilty pleas.

Blake for first degree murder and Victoria for second degree murder. Guilty pleas meant no submission of evidence and therefore no need for Blake's prison letters to be included. They each submitted an agreed statement of facts. Both stated that the murder of Loretta Saunders wasn't a sudden decision. Blake had already decided to murder Loretta, steal her car and leave the province of Nova Scotia. They both told the same story of Loretta arriving at the apartment and Victoria giving the story of her bank card and ID being stolen to cover for the fact that they just didn't have the money to pay Loretta. They both confirmed that Blake attacked Loretta from behind as she was sitting on the couch. Victoria remained in the apartment as Loretta fought Blake off with everything she had. They both said that Blake put Loretta's body into the hockey bag and then put her in the trunk of the car. After they fled the apartment, they used Loretta's bank card to buy food and other supplies for their trip.

Victoria admitted that she lied to police about her whereabouts. She also confirmed that she used Loretta's phone to impersonate Loretta in a text message to her boyfriend Yelchin where she asked him for her mother's maiden name. Both Blake and Victoria said that when they reached Salisbury, New Brunswick, it was snowing. They stopped on the side of the highway and dumped the hockey bag containing Loretta's body in a treed area in the median. They then continued on to Harrow, Ontario where they stayed with a friend. It was there that they were arrested in possession of Loretta's car with her ID, phone and bank card. The pair returned to court to be sentenced but before that came the victim impact statements. Aunts, sisters, brothers, cousins and other family friends sobbed as they spoke about the profound ways in which the loss of Loretta had affected them causing unbearable anguish and loss of sleep. One family member spoke about how they found themselves looking at plastic wrap in the supermarket knowing that it had been used by Blake as a key contributor to Loretta's death.

Over 15 victim impact statements had been painstakingly prepared to be read at the hearing. Many family members and friends who attended wore t-shirts that said, speak the truth even if your voice shakes. It was clear that Loretta's death had a devastating effect on her entire extended family. Loretta's mum Miriam wiped away tears and took deep breaths as she read her statement. Quote, Everyone always fell in love with her when they met her. Miriam said that a part of her heart will never grow back because Loretta will never come back. I will never hold her again. I will never talk to her. I will never ever be the same person because of her being taken from me.

Loretta's father Clayton talked about how he will grieve the rest of his life for the death of his daughter and his unborn grandchild. As Loretta's sister Delilah began to read her victim impact statement from a piece of paper, she was overcome with emotion and threw it on the floor. She looked directly at Blake and Victoria. Do you know what you've done? Do you know what you've fucking done? You stole my sister. She then stormed out of the courtroom. Both Blake and Victoria were sentenced to life in prison. Blake would have to serve 25 years before being eligible for parole and Victoria would have to serve 10. Justice Joshua Arnold said Loretta Saunders had a bright and hopeful future ahead of her. He called her murder despicable, horrifying and pointless.

Even though Blake and Victoria pleaded guilty to Loretta's murder, the judge said they were also responsible for causing the immense pain and agony to the entire Saunders family. Both Blake and Victoria gave very brief statements of apology. Blake said, I am sorry I stole Loretta from you. Victoria also said she was sorry and it's sad to know I was involved in the death of someone. After the hearing, Loretta's family were observed to be visibly distraught. No sentence would bring Loretta back, but they would have preferred to see a harsher punishment for Victoria in particular. Loretta's father Clayton said, Blood on her hands from my daughter and she got 10 years. What kind of justice is that? They don't have the right to breathe the air we breathe.

Just two months later, Delilah wrote a long essay titled, Remembering Loretta Saunders A Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's Story for a website called The Toast. In it, she eloquently wrote about their childhood together and the challenges they faced as Indigenous people. Delilah said she learned so much from Loretta's short time on earth. Quote, She lived her life without fear, with such passion and ferocity. She had an appetite for sensation, life, love and knowledge. She taught me many lessons and continues to guide and inspire me. Delilah then went on to talk about the potential inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls,

saying that continuing to push for it would unearth a lot of discrepancies in the system and raise awareness about what impacts they're all facing. Quote, It would mean not only answering the question of why Indigenous women are more likely to go missing or die a violent death, but it would help unearth the skeletal remains of colonialism and how it has designed a specific role for all. It would mean rewriting history and changing a system that is designed to benefit only itself. Two years after the trial, the Saunders family wounds were reopened. Victoria Hennaberry had decided to appeal her murder conviction. Representing herself without a lawyer, she said she wanted to withdraw her guilty plea,

saying that she was coerced into it. She went on to say that at the time she had pleaded guilty, she had already spent 14 months in prison and she wasn't in a good mental state. Victoria claimed she'd been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD because of the stress of it all. But when she was asked to provide proof by way of an official psychologist report, Victoria could only produce a handwritten note from a psychiatrist that she just had a preliminary interview with. It was a weak case and her appeal was dismissed. As Victoria was led from the courtroom, the Saunders family erupted into cheers and clapping.

Outside the courtroom, Loretta's mother Miriam said that she was relieved. She said that now that the appeal was over, she was going to take up Loretta's cause of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. And in the meantime, good news had come on that front. In December of 2015, the newly elected Government of Canada had announced the launch of an independent national inquiry with the goal to address the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, including people who identified as two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual. The National Inquiry's guiding principle was, our women and girls are sacred. The inquiry started with what was called a truth-gathering process, or community hearings.

The first day of hearings was October 30th, 2017, in Member 2 First Nation in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The Saunders family was the first to testify. As you'll recall, when Loretta was first reported as missing, the media described her as a white woman. Her mother, Miriam Saunders, testified at the community hearing that she wept when she first heard those original police reports about her proud, Inuk daughter. She said the Halifax police also treated her family differently at first, when they believed that Loretta was white. Miriam testified that she would call to get case updates and she'd be able to talk directly with the investigators who answered her questions personally. She went on to say that after it came out that Loretta was in fact an Inuk woman, things became more difficult. The information was not forthcoming anymore, she said, and then she was told to start talking to someone she described as a go-between, who wasn't very helpful either.

Halifax Regional Police issued a brief statement in response to this, only addressing the go-between, who they said was a family liaison officer assigned to cases involving homicides and missing people. During her testimony, Miriam Saunders also described the plight of impoverished Indigenous residents of Labrador who can't access medical treatment and are sent to St John's Newfoundland with limited travel funding. Quote, we don't need to worry about our own people killing us off, our government is killing us off. Delilah Saunders spoke her truth at the hearing too. She said that before Loretta was murdered, she'd talked to her little sister about the phenomenon of white passing privilege, where people who appear white but are not are treated favorably. Delilah told the commission that when she and Loretta were pulled over by the Halifax Police several years earlier, her sister told her they were treated differently because they were able to pass for white. Quote, they were sweet to us and they were kind to us. Loretta said this would have gone completely differently if we were black or looked Indigenous. Delilah Saunders also told her personal truth. She said the male counsellor assigned to her by victim services often commented about Loretta's appearance during sessions. And at one point, as Delilah was confessing some sensitive hardships she was experiencing in the wake of Loretta's death, the counsellor touched her leg in a way that was inappropriate.

The Nova Scotia Provincial Government issued a statement in response to this, saying their victim services program had not received any complaints against any counsellors, but clarified it would certainly take them seriously. But Delilah's life experience and the stories her sister told her indicated that she wouldn't be taken seriously, so she kind of thought, what's the point? In total, 15 community hearings were held, with family members and loved ones of survivors and people lost to violence testifying, in addition to almost 150 private sessions. In total, nearly 750 people shared their testimony or truths, as well as another 84 expert witnesses, elders and frontline workers also provided their perspective. And over 800 people created artistic expressions, like poetry, songs and artwork, to reflect their experiences. The issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls was a sore point, and many had waited decades to be heard and to be taken seriously by someone in an official capacity. On June 3, 2019, an official ceremony was held in Gattano, Quebec for the release of the final report. The Canadian Museum of History's Grand Hall was packed with people, many of them wearing the symbolic colour of red and carrying symbols of their loved ones, photos, signs and printed t-shirts.

The report was presented by the Inquiry's Chief Commissioner, Marianne Buller, who was the first ever First Nations woman appointed as a Provincial Court Judge in British Columbia. She said, quote, This report is about these beautiful Indigenous people and the systemic factors that led to their losses of dignity, humanity and, in too many cases, losses of life. This report is about deliberate race, identity and gender-based genocide. The Executive Summary of the report states, This genocide has been empowered by colonial structures, evidenced notably by the Indian Act, the 60s scoop, residential schools and the breaches of human and Inuit Métis and First Nations rights, leading directly to the current increased rates of violence, death and suicide in Indigenous populations. The report presented detailed 231 separate calls for justice.

Commissioner Buller took care to say they weren't just recommendations or options, they are legal imperatives. The calls for justice included calling on all governments to implement a national action plan to address violence against Indigenous women and girls, as well as improving policing in remote communities and a national action plan to ensure equitable access to employment, clean water, housing, education, safety and healthcare. They called for an effective response to human trafficking cases and sexual exploitation and violence, including training people who may be exposed to these cases on how to recognise the signs. They called for more Indigenous staff in child welfare systems and long-term funding for education programs and awareness campaigns related to violence prevention. And also, major reforms to the justice system and policing to ensure these cases are addressed more seriously by the justice system. The inquiry reported that murder investigations involving Indigenous people were often met with indifference by law enforcement.

And negative stereotypes often led to Indigenous deaths and disappearances being investigated and treated differently from other cases and therefore resulted in fewer solved cases. In addition to this, when there is a reasonable chance of a conviction, Crown prosecutors are too often willing to accept plea bargains or reduced charges in exchange for guilty pleas in cases of murdered Indigenous women. The inquiry called for more Indigenous specific options for sentencing. Commissioner Buller then called on all Canadians to read the report, speak out against racism, sexism and violence and hold governments to account. Decolonise yourself by learning about the true history of Canada. Quote, The murders, the abductions, the human trafficking, the beatings, the rapes, the violence, yes, the genocide will continue unless all Canadians find the strength, courage and vision to build a new, decolonised relationship with each other based on respect and self-determination.

Delilah Saunders continues to pick up after where Loretta left off as an activist on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. She's written many essays for national publications. In a February 2018 piece for Flair.com, Delilah said, We collectively feel the loss and injustice, we are collectively standing together to demand justice and a better fate than the colonial system has designated for Indigenous peoples. She went on to say that Loretta often spoke about how she wanted to use her research to break the cycle for Delilah and for other Indigenous women and girls. Quote, I keep my sister alive through my activism. I also keep her alive by living my best life and continuing to strive to be the best person I can be. I owe it to her to keep on this path. The legacy of Loretta Saunders also lives on through the Loretta Saunders Community Scholarship Fund, started by her family.

Every year it supports Indigenous women in their chosen field of study. This isn't the end to this story. In part two, Jordan from Nighttime chats with Delilah about what she's up to now, with a surprise revelation. They chat about Loretta's childhood and what happened during her time in Montreal, the shocking way they found out that her remains had been found, and more. To hear it first, you can subscribe to Nighttime right now, but I'll also drop the episode in my feed after it's released. Thanks for listening and a huge thanks to Delilah Saunders for her help with this episode. I have a podcast recommendation for you. It's a series from 2018, but if you're new to podcasts, you might not know about it.

It's an award-winning CBC podcast called Missing and Murdered, Finding Cleo. In the 1970s, Cleo Samaganus, a young Kree girl, was taken from her family in the 60s scoop. In Finding Cleo, investigative journalist Connie Walker helps a family unravel what happened to their sister. It was powerful, moving, informative, and had an ending that no one saw coming I highly recommend it. It's called Missing and Murdered, Finding Cleo. I've included a link in the show notes. This episode of Canadian True Crime was researched by Anya Best and me. Thanks to Delilah Saunders and Nicole Avery. And I also want to acknowledge the court reporting of journalist Blair Rhodes of the CBC in Halifax,

which I used as one of the sources for this episode. Audio editing was by We Talk of Dreams, who also wrote the theme song. The host of the Beyond Bazaar True Crime podcast voiced the disclaimer. Stay tuned for part two in the next week or so, and then I'll be back on December 15th with another Canadian True Crime story. See you then.