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On February 19th, 2008 Thomas George Svekla went on trial in an Edmonton Court of Queen's Bench courtroom to face two charges of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Theresa Merrie Innes and Rachel Liz Quinney.

This page is Part Nine of coverage by this site.

Innes verdict | Quinney verdict
courtroom reaction | reaction outside court | agency response
pre-verdict ceremony | front page news

On Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 a Court of Queen's Bench courtroom was packed to hear verdicts in the trial of the first man charged by the Project KARE task force looking into the disappearances and murders of sex trade workers in the Edmonton area.

Justice Sterling Sanderman faced Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson, 40-year-old Thomas Svekla, his defence lawyer Robert Shaigec, and a gallery filled with family members of Theresa Innes and Rachel Quinney along with curious onlookers.

So many were in attendance the normally off-limits jury box was used to house the media, an ironic note for past defendants who complained of having been tried "by judge and Journal."

On May 9th, 2006 Svekla had been charged with second-degree murder and indecently interfering with human remains in connection with the death of Theresa Innes.

On January 2nd, 2007 Svekla had been charged with second-degree murder and offering an indignity to a human body in connection with the death of Rachel Quinney.

If found guilty on the murder charges, Svekla faced mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 10 to 25 years (with parole eligibility determined by the judge at sentencing).

Innes Verdict

Justice Sanderman found Thomas Svekla guilty of the second-degree murder of Theresa Merrie Innes.

Innes' family cried in court at the announcement, clutching one another and burying their heads in one another's shoulders.

Svekla looked down with his arms folded.

Sanderman called Svekla a "needy attention-seeker who has a grossly over-inflated sense of his own importance.

"I'm convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Svekla killed Ms. Innes," he said.

He pointed to the fact that her naked body was elaborately wrapped in a shower curtain, garbage bags, and an air mattress, lastly bound with wire.

He also rejected Svekla's claim that he simply found Innes' body in his truck, in addition to his later claim that someone was trying to frame him.

Svekla admitted to police finding her body and moving it, but said he played no role in her actual death.

"Bluntly put, I reject Mr. Svekla's explanation," Sanderman said. "It's fanciful, it's ridiculous .. it was contrived by him to get him out of a tight jam. It's incapable of belief."

Sanderman said that Svekla concocted a series of lies to cover up his involvement in the killing and that his behaviour after her death in December 2005 was evidence of guilt.

"Early in his very first statement to police, Mr. Svekla makes his grand statement: 'All I have is my honesty.'

"What a bunch of crap," Sanderman said.

"Mr. Svekla reminds me of the little Dutch boy ... he tells another lie to plug the holes in his story.

"It is the grand lie spun by him since the very beginning," Sanderman said.

However, the justice noted separate admissions Svekla made to a friend and a co-worker that he believed were true.

One was when Svekla asked a high-school friend visiting at the Edmonton Remand Centre to tell a high-school girlfriend that she had been the first person he had hurt and “the first to see the bogeyman.”

The other was when Svekla told a fellow High Level Fountain Tire worker after Innes had disappeared that he had a “dark past” and had “killed someone.”

The justice also found Svekla guilty of committing an indignity to Innes' body.

Quinney Verdict

Sanderman then found Svekla not guilty of the death of Rachel Quinney.

Delia Quinney, Rachel's mother, clasped her hand over her mouth and stared at the floor.

Sanderman said that although it's human nature to want to hold someone accountable for the "cruel, callous behaviour directed towards two vulnerable human beings," Svekla can't be held responsible "for everything" just because he had a woman's body in a hockey bag.

"That's all we have is evidence that shows he discovered [Quinney's] body.

"The crown has failed to establish any link between Mr. Svekla and Ms. Quinney other than his discovery of her body," he said. "There is no compelling evidence that ties Svekla to Rachel Quinney let alone her death."

Sanderman also found Svekla not guilty of committing an indignity to Quinney's body.

The justice ruled that Svekla simply stumbled upon Quinney's body in June 2004 and noted that he went to police, took a lie detector test and offered up his DNA – behaviour inconsistent with murder.

Testimony from the medical examiner did not offer how Quinney died and it did not rule out the possibility of a cocaine overdose. The last sightings of her working the streets did not match up easily with expert evidence about when she may have died. The Crown could not prove that Svekla knew Quinney, Sanderman said.

The justice said the Innes and Quinney deaths were so different that he could not link them though similar-fact evidence, a key component of the Crown's case against Svekla.

"His core account of finding Ms. Quinney's body is unassailable," Sanderman said. "Though it is highly suspicious, it is not proof of wrongdoing. It would be a travesty to act upon evidence of that sort."

Svekla's sentencing hearing was set for June 16th, 2008.

Victim impact statements were expected to be heard from Theresa Innes' family. Quinney's family wrote victim impact statements, but they will not be read in court due to the not guilty verdict.

Justice Sanderman described the trial as a long grind. The same could have been said of the day's proceedings.

The judge took two hours to read out his verdict, meticulously detailing his difficulties with the evidence presented. He noted that testimony was often contradictory and needed to be viewed cautiously.

Of note was the testimony of Donna Parkinson, Svekla's sister.

Parkinson called police after not believing someone trusted her brother with $800 of anything (he had told her the hockey bag containing Innes' body was filled with compost worms).

Sanderman said Parkinson's statements in court differed greatly from those she gave police when she was first interviewed.

Courtroom Reaction

Otherwise showing little emotion during the day's hearing, Svekla was seen swallowing hard when Sanderman characterised him as a liar, and when he highlighted some point of law that indicated Svekla's responsibility for Theresa Innes' murder.

After Sanderman left for his chambers, Innes' brother, Mike, stood and shouted to Svekla across the crowded courtroom.

"Why don't you have the courage to stand up and tell the truth for the first time in your life?" he said.

This prompted Rachel Quinney’s sister-in-law, Charlotte Lajimodiere, to yell out something about the judge not having any daughters.

The only member of Svekla's family in court was his sister, Donna Parkinson. It was Parkinson who found Innes' body in May 2006, with her call to police leading to her brother's arrest.

She was escorted from the courthouse by two armed sheriffs.

It remains to be seen if Parkinson qualifies for the $100,000 reward offered by Project KARE.

Svekla's trial days continue when on September 2nd, 2008 he faces charges of sexual assault and uttering threats in connection with an attack on a woman in High Level in the summer of 2005.

The woman, who can't be identified, had testified at Svekla's trial in Edmonton and told the court he attacked her and threatened to kill her after after sharing a six-pack of beer and then going to back to his apartment.

On September 10th a preliminary hearing begins in the case of a sexual assault on a woman at or near Edmonton between August 1st, 2002, and June 30th, 2004.

On September 22nd a preliminary hearing begins in a case where Svekla is charged with sexually assaulting and sexually interfering with a girl under the age of 14. The incident occurred at or near Edmonton between May 30th and December 28th, 1995.

A media frenzy took place outside court after the verdicts were read out.

Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson provided only brief comments about the split decision, and offered sympathy for Quinney's family.

"The fact that it was a circumstantial case had a significant impact on Justice Sterling Sanderman," he said. "I'm sure it's a difficult day for them."

Finlayson would not say what he would be seeking in the way of a sentence but said the Crown would consider all of its options, including applying for dangerous offender status for Svekla. If successful, Svekla would be incarcerated indefinitely.

No indication was given if the Crown would appeal the not guilty verdict in Quinney's death.

The prosecutor also credited Svekla's sister for the tip that led to Svekla's arrest.

"We should keep in mind that Donna Parkinson may be be a hero in this case, it was Miss Parkinson who made that phone call," he said.

Finlayson admitted Parkinson's differing statements that Sanderman noted were problematic.

"During the course of the trial there were inconsistencies in her evidence and his comments were not unexpected."

Co-Crown prosecutors Marilena Carminati and Karl Wilberg did not comment.

Neither did Svekla's defence team of Lauren Garcia and Rob Shaigec. Should Svekla decide to appeal the verdict, the lawyers would have 30 days to do so after the sentence for Innes' murder is imposed.

The family of Theresa Innes refused to speak to reporters despite efforts to gain their attention.

"Get the camera off me," Theresa's father told CTV Edmonton.

Mike Innes, the man who shouted to Svekla to tell the truth inside court, thought differently about disclosure as he angrily grabbed his wife and pushed cameramen and photographers out of the way as they tried to speak with her.

"We're happy, really happy. But I feel bad for the Rachel Quinney family," was all Nataile Pangnanouvong managed to say before being led away by her husband.

Rachel Quinney's mother, Delia, was on the verge of collapse and practically needed to be carried as she left the courthouse.

Quinney's sister-in-law, Charlotte Lajimodiere, was heartbroken and said her family was stunned and devastated.

"Great pain, great anger, because Rachel's murder goes unsolved," she said.

"Four years ... just for this today. Wasted a lot of people's time.

"I wanted to stand here and thank a lot of people but I can't thank nobody because Justice Sanderman has really, really disappointed the Quinney family.

"I guess we're going to ask questions forever. It is a shock," she said. "Today is the worst."

The Quinney family sat in the front row as Sanderman read out his verdict.

"We sat there and we felt that hope fade. We could just tell where he was going and we knew the verdict before he could even say it to us ...

"We just knew ... there was just too much he was sugarcoating."

"Edmonton, lock up all your vulnerable women because he just let a piece of shit walk for Rachel Quinney," she offered while seeming to forget Svekla's pending jail time for Innes' murder.

Lajimodiere said the trial had ripped her family apart, and that the outcome would do little to help them heal.

"There is still no justice for the Quinney family," she said. "It doesn't give us any justice."

There was no word if Keith Lajimodiere attempted to attend the announcement of the verdicts.

Justice Sanderman banned Rachel's brother from the trial after a threatening gesture directed toward Svekla was made.

Svekla's sentencing hearing was set for June 16th, 2008.

Thomas Svekla was the first – and so far the only – person charged in connection with a series of deaths involving sex trade workers in the Edmonton area over the past two decades.

With Svekla found not guilty in Quinney's death, the question remains who else may be responsible for some two dozens murders.

"That's where we have to be careful and await the outcome of the appeal process before expressing comments in that area," RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Wayne A. Oakes said.

"The fact is, we have always stated that we had reason to believe that more than one person is responsible for more than one of these deaths."

During police interrogations, Svekla was told he was a suspect in up to a dozen other Project KARE cases.

"It would be inappropriate to say whether that is still the case," Oakes said.

Oakes explained that with the Svekla trial now seemingly behind them, Project KARE is "doing the investigations and collecting the evidence" so other cases can be brought before the courts.

"When you have an individual charged, that doesn't mean that your efforts are over.

"By far, their work is not done," Oakes said of KARE. "There wouldn't be a celebration, nor would there be a feeling of letdown or disappointment. We have to remain focused on doing the job.

"While we have a vested interest (in trials), we have to remain focused on the job at hand, and that's the other outstanding cases," he said.

Regarding whether Donna Parkinson is eligible for the $100,000 reward offered by investigators, Oakes wouldn't comment and called it a "private matter."

The concern that others may be responsible for violence against sex trade workers was echoed by Kathy King of the Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation of Edmonton.

"There are still many services needed for women wanting to get off the street and there are still a large number of violet offenders that are hidden in the john population," King advised.

"There's still so many questions that remain, particularly about all the other missing and murdered women.

"Is this man responsible for more than one murder? We know Svekla isn't the only murderer in Edmonton, and we don't want to pin all our hopes on one conviction.

"The comfort it brings is that he won't be out on the street for a long while," she said. "But there are many, many others who still are, and there are many unsolved murders."

Kathy King is the mother of Cara King.

Cara's body was found in a canola field near Highway 214 and Highway 16 near Sherwood Park on September 1st, 1997. She was 22.

JoAnn McCartney, a former Edmonton police vice cop who now counsels sex trade workers, said perpetrators know their deaths are among the toughest for police to solve.

"Prostitutes are considered disposable by the men who kill them. There is so much chaos and inconsistency in their lives, and the people in their lives don't want to talk to police," she said.

"The women are marginalized and they feel like nobody is going to believe what they say anyway. They get beaten and raped every week. They get so hopeless they stop protecting themselves.

"They wonder if anyone is even going to care if they are gone."

Prior to the verdict being read out, a ceremony was held outside the courthouse as about a dozen friends, relatives and supporters of the two slain women gathered in anticipation.

"For this to go on today is final closure," said Danielle Boudreau, a friend of Quinney family and a volunteer with Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation of Edmonton. "My biggest fear is that they'll be forgotten."

Boudreau added she didn't sleep well the night before, waiting for this moment.

"It's been four years. All of our lives have been changed for the rest of our lives."

Those gathered washed themselves with the smoke from a bundle of sweetgrass in a small frying pan, part of a traditional smudging ceremony.

Dean Brown, acting head of the Canadian Native Friendship Centre, led a prayer calling on the Creator to be with them while the verdict was being delivered.

"Stand beside them so their strength is full," he said.

"It's hard times for this family and for the people involved. I ask and pray, Creator, that the next best step happens. That there be some closure for this family. That some justice is served today."

Brown also prayed that "the killing of our women comes to an end.

"Our women are so important to us," he said. "They're the ones who bring life forward for us."

The vast majority of the hundreds of women who've disappeared from the streets of Canadian cities over the past four decades are aboriginal.

The Native pipe carrier also prayed for Svekla's family.

"They, too, are going through a hard time. Please be with them," Brown said.

The story that was front page news for over two years likely made its last appearance on the covers of Edmonton's major daily papers the morning after Justice Sterling Sanderman read his verdicts.

While he still has a sentencing hearing and several lesser assault trials ahead of him, the man who said he was the "Pickton of Alberta" and who thought his life story was worthy of a book and movie deal will no longer grace front doorsteps and streetcorner newspaper boxes.

For both Project KARE and the families of the deceased, the outcome of Thomas Svekla's trial held mixed blessings at best.

On June 8th, 2008 the Edmonton Journal published a trio of articles, part of the paper's last chapter in the story of Thomas Svekla.

Written by Daivd Staples and Karen Kleiss, the articles were drawn from exhaustive research of court documents and interviews with those close to Svekla » full details »

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