Prince George, B.C.- The first testimony  to be heard on day one of the trial of Cody Legebokoff, came from Todd Esson, the father of Natasha Lynn Montgomery, one of the four women Legebokoff is accused of murdering.

He testified his contact with Natasha over the years was intermittent as he separated from  Natasha’s mother   when Natasha was 2 or three,  then  was in jail,   resumed contact when Natasha was  9 or ten then stopped seeing her  when she was in her  mid teens  “because I was in and out of jail.”  Esson testified that while he may not have been in contact  with Natasha,   she was in contact with  his other daughter and his mother.

Natasha  had two  children, and Esson described her as  someone “who loved her kids.”

That sentiment was  repeated when Natasha’s mother took the stand.  Louanne Montgomery  testified she had a very open relationship with Natasha,  that she knew her daughter was  involved in drugs,  and  had  tried to  get her to  go to rehab “Natasha wasn’t ready for that”.

Natasha had been  doing jail time for a breach of conditions,  although her mother said she didn’t know the reason for the initial charge that lead to the conditions that  were breached.  Natasha  was  expecting   to be released  in early September, but  was  released  on August 19th.    Louanne says  Natasha called her to say she wanted to  “let loose” with some of her  friends before  heading back home to Quesnel. 

Louanne  didn’t  start to worry about Natasha’s whereabouts until  she failed to hear from her.  “She was calling me every  couple of days”  then the calls stopped, and Louanne  said it was very unusual for  Natasha to miss her own daughter’s birthday.

Louanne told the  court how she last spoke with her daughter on August 26th,  and came to Prince George from Quesnel on two  weekends to search  for her,  with no sign of Natasha, and no word from her,  Louanne would  file a missing  person’s report on September 23rd.

There has been no sign of  Natasha Lynn Montgomery since  late August of  2010.  Earlier  in the day, the Crown  outlined how it plans to present DNA evidence  that places Natasha Lynn Montgomery in the apartment of Cody Legebokoff, and  that the DNA evidence will  lead the jury to conclude  she had been murdered.

Legebokoff is also accused of  murdering Jill Stuchenko in 2009, Cynthia Maas and  Loren Donn Leslie in  2010.

The Crown  says the  three  women whose bodies were discovered,  had been severely beaten.  In the case of Cynthia Maas,  the Crown says a pathologist will testify that  one injury was the result of  someone “stomping on her neck”. 

The trial resumes tomorrow.