Prince George, B.C. –  The Crown  in the Cody Alan Legebokoff  murder trial, plans to use DNA evidence cell phone records and  social media chat lines to  link  Legebokoff  to the deaths of Jill Stuchenko, Natasha Lynn Montgomery, Cynthia Maas and Loren Donn Leslie.

In the opening statement, Crown Counsel James Temple  told the jury the Crown will present evidence   removed from Legebokoff’s  apartment ,  including carpets,  drapes and clothing  as well as items taken from his vehicle, which had the DNA of the four  women .

Of the three bodies recovered, (Natasha Montgomery has not been found) the  women  had  been badly beaten.

The accused, Cody Legebokoff,  head shaved, and  wearing a  neatly trimmed goatee,  tilted his head as if to listen more  intently  as  Temple  detailed  the injuries suffered by each of the women.

Temple told the Jury the  Crown will  present  interview evidence in which Legebokoff first denied knowing Loren Leslie saying he had "found her in the snow",  then   in a later interview admitted he  did know her,  then said  they had sex and she  went psycho "hitting herself" and  in  yet a later interview  would say he hit  her twice "to put her out of her misery".

The trial opened this morning with  Justice Glen Parrett spending  about an hour to outline the duties and responsibilities of the jury.  He told them, on more than  one  occasion, that they are the  judges of the facts,   while he is the judge of the law. He impressed upon  the four women and ten men, that  they are not to pay any attention to reports in the media.  As an example, he pointed to  a weekend story  which  quoted  Prince George Mayor Shari Green as saying the  trial is of more interest to  smaller communities  where the  crimes were committed “The media can get the facts wrong, and  they delight  in talking to people and giving them a chance to get the facts wrong.”   The reality is, one of the murders occurred  near Vanderhoof,  the remaining three  to have occurred in Prince George.

Jill Stuchenko’s body was found in a gravel pit near Ospika and Otway Road in the fall of 2009.  Natasha Lynn Montgomery  has not been  found, but she was last seen  in  August of 2010 in Prince George. Cynthia Maas’s body was found  in October of 2010 in L.C. Gunn Park while Loren Donn Leslie was  found in the snow in  gravel pit  off highway 27   near Fort St. James in late November of 2010.

The trial is expected to last 6-8 months although Justice Parrett has informed the jury he would  like to  see  a two week break  in the proceedings, likely in August.