Prince George, B.C.- Crown Counsel Joseph Temple continues his closing statement  in the trial of Cody Alan Legebokoff.

Temple says Legebokoff should be found guilty of first degree murder in the deaths of Jill Stuchenko, Cynthia Maas and Natasha Montgomery as  Legebokoff had testified he was aware Mr.X  intended to  kill each woman,  and provided the  weapons to  carry out that intent.

Temple also directed the jury to consider similarity of fact in the evidence outside of Legebokoff’s narrative about  Mr.X, Y and Z.  Temple said  the “Similarities are not likely to have come about by chance.”  He told the jury it  is the Crown’s submission that there is “Strong evidence that a common actor is engaged in all of these murders.”

To press his point,  he  talked about location, that all  of the murders  happened either in Prince George or in close proximity, that  three of the victims had suffered blunt force trauma to the head,  and that in the case of Natasha Montgomery ( whose body has not been found) Legebokff  testified she too had been  struck on the head,  then  had her throat slit.   Cynthia Maas and Loren Leslie each had puncture wounds to their throat,  and  Jill Stuchenko  had so little blood in her body it had been suggested she too  could have  suffered an injury to a major artery that would have caused her to bleed out.

He reminded the jury of the condition of  the bodies that had been found,  that Jill Stuchenko was naked,  and both Cynthia Maas and Loren Leslie were discovered with their  slacks and underwear rolled down to their ankles.

Temple says the degree of  similarities in the murders is such that  it would lead to a “modus operandi” in which  Legebokoff  would seek out vulnerable females,  sexually assault them  and kill them by applying blunt force trauma.

Temple is  about to outline  the Crown’s submission on why Legebokoff should be found guilty of first degree murder in the killing of Loren Leslie.