By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Victim’s father testifies in triple homicide trial (WARNING: Contains graphic details)

Jun 12, 2017 | 1:56 PM

LETHBRIDGE – It was another short day in the triple homicide trial of 24-year old Derek Saretzky, with the Crown presenting all their evidence for Monday (June 12) before lunch.

Saretzky faces three counts of first degree murder for the September 2015 deaths of 69-year old Hanne Meketech, 27-year old Terry Blanchette and his two-year old daughter, Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette.

Terry’s father and Hailey’s grandfather, William Blanchette, took the stand Monday, to discuss the day he found his son’s body.

Blanchette started by explaining that on Sept. 13, 2015, he babysat Hailey while Terry worked – something he had done numerous times before. He also noted that Terry and Cheyenne Dunbar – Hailey’s mother – alternated custody every two weeks. At the time, Terry had Hailey for a five-week period, as Cheyenne was moving.

The next day (Sept. 14), Blanchette explained that he was in Blairmore and decided he would meet Terry and Hailey for an early lunch. He stopped at the house – noting Terry’s car was there – but after not getting a response at the door, he left to get gas.

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After topping up his vehicle, Blanchette tried texting and calling his son, but failed to get an answer and decided to return to Terry’s house.

Back at the house, Blanchette walked in as the door was unlocked – something that wasn’t uncommon if Terry was home or if they were just at the park. He noted it was odd that the door up to Hailey’s room was open and that Terry’s comforter was lying partially in the hallway between Terry’s bedroom and the bathroom. Noticing blood on the floor, he then turned on the bathroom light and found Terry’s body.

“He was mostly wrapped in that blanket, on his back, between the toilet and the vanity, and it looked like a big cut on his neck,” Blanchette testified.

Finding that Terry was cold to the touch, Blanchette went looking for Hailey, and when he discovered that she was missing, he called 911 with Terry’s phone.

When asked specifically about Hailey’s crib, Blanchette said it seemed emptier than usual, saying she generally had it so full of blankets and toys that she would barely fit. He talked about two blue, stuffed dogs in particular called ‘Scout’, explaining that she had two because one was worn out.

“They had their issues,” Blanchette said, when questioned about the relationship between Terry and Cheyenne, before adding that when it came to Hailey, “They were pretty well on-track with that.”

During cross-examination by the defence, Blanchette’s voice cracked briefly when asked about the extra time Terry had Hailey while Cheyenne was moving.

“He loved to spend time with Hailey,” said Blanchette.

Prior to Blanchette’s testimony, Darren Rypien, one of Terry’s neighbours, took the stand.

Rypien told the court that in the early morning hours of Sept. 14, 2015, he awoke to what sounded like someone kicking the metal roofing he had sitting in his driveway. He noted the time was around 3:20 a.m., and when he looked outside he saw a white commercial van with an aerial or “buggy whip” sitting in an elderly neighbour’s driveway. He said it was strange as she was 85 and didn’t drive.

He testified that he then heard the voice of a child “whimpering, whining, screaming” near the van, and that it sounded like a child who had just woken up. He said he thought he heard a woman’s voice trying to console the child, but that he couldn’t say if it was a woman for sure.

The van then accelerated out of the driveway at a decent rate of speed, but he agreed during cross-examination that the tires never squealed.

A van matching that description also came up in the testimony of Cst. Chris Eklund, an officer with the RCMP Major Crimes Unit in Calgary. Cst. Eklund had been brought in to help investigate the murder of Hanne Meketech on Sept. 9, 2015.

He stated that they had certain “holdback information” that would only be known to a small group of investigators and the person who committed the crime. That information included the head and neck trauma to Meketech, as well as the defensive wounds she suffered to her hands.

Cst. Eklund explained that on Sept. 22, he was tasked with recovering the outside surveillance video from the Esso service station in Coleman. A review of the video found that shortly after midnight on Sept. 9, a white van with the aerial and a logo on the side drove east on Highway 3. Having grown up in the Crowsnest Pass, Cst. Eklund said he recognized the van as belonging to Prestige Cleaners, a business owned by the Saretzky family.

His cross-examination involved questions about another individual, who was identified as an initial suspect in Meketech’s murder. Cst. Eklund noted that the individual had moved into the area just one weekend earlier, and that he knew Meketech. While an initial search warrant of the individual’s tent was denied, they were later given consent to search it, and came away with nothing. The individual was eventually ruled-out as a suspect due to a lack of evidence.

The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning (June 13), and is expected to run for another three weeks.

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Saretzky murder trial – Day Three (June 9)

Saretzky murder trial – Day Two (June 8)