|
Jaime
Wheeler
| Denver
Crawford
| Wilf
Hathway
Dominic McCullock has been proclaiming
his innocence since he was first arrested for the murder of Jaime
Wheeler.
Dominic McCullock
and the murder of Jaime Wheeler
Boy! Did I get caught napping.
As webmaster of injusticebusters, I have not felt it necessary
to scrutinize every single murder trial that comes before the
courts. I was relieved as anybody else when it was reported that
Jaime Wheeler's killer had been caught, tried and convicted.
After all, he was represented by the most expensive (or, at least,
one with a very high profile) lawyer in the province. When Mark
Brayford told reporters that his client was not guilty and intended
to appeal, well, I just thought that was the obligatory ramblings
of a high-priced mouthpiece.
In the course of investigating
the murder of Denver Crawford, we stumbled upon some interesting
connections with the Jaime Wheeler murder. They happened a few
blocks from each other and autopsy photos show that the fatal
wounds -- puncture of the carotid artery in the neck -- were
similar enough to raise questions for the most simple-minded
investigator.
Wheeler's autopsy report, while
presented at the preliminary inquiry which indicted Dominic McCulloch
-- was not brought into evidence at the trial which convicted
him. McCullock was convicted on DNA evicence. This evidence had
been analysed for the defence by a California expert who was
prepared to tstify that it was highly improbable that McCulloch
was the killer. Brayford decided not to call the expert because,
as he told Dominic and his family, he thought a jury would be
prejudiced by the fact the expert was paid!
Dominic McCullock took the
stand briefly to deny that he killed Jaime Wheeler and to deny
that he was present when she was killed. The jury did not deliberate
for long before bringing in a guilty verdict.
Killers are
still out there
It is unlikely that Denver
Crawford was killed by a single individual and even more unlikely
that Jaime Wheeler was. Crawford was 83 years old and accordingly
weak. Wheeler was a strong young woman and she fought hard for
her life.
- McCullock appeals murder
conviction
Star - Phoenix, Saskatoon,
Sask
Jun 8, 2004. p. A8
Dominic McCullock has filed an appeal of his second-degree murder
conviction.
On May 12 a jury found the
22-year-old guilty of stabbing 20- year-old Jaime Wheeler 56
times in her Broadway Avenue-area basement suite.
He was sentenced to life in
prison with no eligibility for parole for 15 years.
In his brief notice of appeal,
McCullock says: "My conviction was contrary to the evidence
and the law."
During sentencing, Justice
Robert Laing described McCullock as being "in the extremely
dangerous category."
Laing described the "savage
attack" as being "at the extreme end of violence."
McCullock jury ponders
evidence
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: May 12, 2004. pg. A.8
The jury deciding Dominic
McCullock's fate resumes deliberations this morning after retiring
Tuesday night without a verdict in the second-degree murder trial.
The jury began deliberations
around noon Tuesday, after Justice Robert Laing summed up evidence
from the two-week trial into the March 12, 2000, stabbing death
of 20-year-old Jaime Wheeler.
The Crown's case against McCullock,
23, was built on circumstantial evidence. DNA in blood found
on an outside door knob, the basement suite door handles, in
blood on Wheeler's jacket and on a water pipe stem matched McCullock's.
DNA profiling also revealed
that a pubic hair stuck in blood on Wheeler's forearm was McCullock's.
According to evidence presented
to the court, McCullock also sold a compact disc player two days
after Wheeler died. One of the items reported missing after Wheeler's
death was a blue Shockwave disc player.
McCullock regularly visited
Wheeler's roommate, David Parent, to buy small amounts of marijuana
and hang out. He always phoned before he came over, the jury
heard.
Wheeler's telephone, which
was programmed to store the numbers of everyone who called, was
ripped from its cord at 1:03 a.m. It has never been found.
Nor was Wheeler's bone-handled
knife, which she kept on the coffee table and used to cut up
marijuana, ever recovered.
The pawn shop records also
showed McCullock had sold a camera lens the day before the murder.
He sometimes used the money from pawn shop sales to buy marijuana
and it is likely he intended to use that day's cash to make a
purchase from Parent, Crown prosecutor Dan Dahl told the jury
in closing arguments Monday.
The defence stressed the possibility
of contamination of the DNA samples and of mistakes being made
at the DNA labs in Regina and Louisiana where samples were tested.
Even if the DNA matches were
correct, McCullock could have left his DNA at the apartment on
other occasions, defence lawyer Mark Brayford stressed.
McCullock was prone to winter
nose bleeds and could have left blood on the outside door knob
days earlier without people who used the door noticing it, he
could have smeared such blood on Wheeler's jacket when he moved
it off a chair, he could have shed a pubic hair in the washroom
on a previous visit and could have used the water pipe some other
time.
Expert witnesses said the fact
a person's DNA is found doesn't prove that person was the last
to leave DNA there. The individual might be a greater shedder
of DNA than others who later touched the item where the DNA was
found.
McCullock took the stand to
say he wasn't at Wheeler's suite the night of her death and he
didn't kill her.
He said the disc player he
sold at the pawn shop belonged to the sister of his girlfriend,
and he used the money to take his girlfriend out for her birthday.
The defence zeroed in on the
police failure to detect a link to McCullock through the pawn
shop records prior to the DNA link bringing his name to their
attention.
Saskatoon police Const. David
Hudson said in December 2000 he began combing through pawn shop
records to see if anyone had sold the disc player, the bone-handled
knife or the telephone missing from Wheeler's apartment.
He said that if he found such
items on pawn shop transaction logs, he would have checked the
more detailed individual records for those transactions to see
if the items matched Wheeler's.
The fact he never flagged the
disc player sold by McCullock indicates police must have checked
the detailed record and dismissed the item because it didn't
match the one they were looking for, the defence argued.
The detailed transaction card
no longer exists to be checked. The policy was to store them
for 21 months, and it was 32 months later McCullock's name was
searched.
The defence also noted there
was no evidence to suggest McCullock had any strong feelings
about Wheeler, nor that she had any particular dislike of him.
Such facts seemed inconsistent
with the "overkill" described by the pathologist who
conducted the autopsy on Wheeler's body.
Dr. Rani Kanthan said the 56
wounds Wheeler suffered were unusual, and such overkill indicated
a high emotional state such as can be brought on by drug use
or sex.
The defence pointed out that
Wheeler's jacket pocket revealed the DNA of two unknown males
and that police have not ruled out the persons who contributed
that DNA.
Brayford noted Parent's drug
trafficking could have attracted violence to his home. He acknowledged
that trafficking can be a dangerous business and had just that
day strapped a knife to his leg when he went out.
Earlier that winter, a drug
customer of his had shown up at the suite, accompanied by a male
with a baseball bat, accusing him of ripping her off. Parent
had convinced the woman he was not the one who ripped her off.
DNA links not enough,
Brayford says
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: May 11, 2004. pg. A.3
Dominic McCullock is either
the victim of a series of coincidences or he killed Jaime Wheeler,
Crown prosecutor Dan Dahl told the jury in closing arguments
at McCullock's second-degree murder trial Monday.
McCullock, 23, sat motionless
and slightly flushed as lawyers summed up their cases for the
six-woman, six-man jury. The jury has listened to nine days of
evidence about the brutal stabbing death of the 20-year-old university
student in her basement suite on March 12, 2000.
Defence lawyer Mark Brayford
said the DNA that links McCullock to the crime scene does not
prove he is the one who stabbed and slashed Wheeler 56 times.
McCullock had been to the suite
many times to buy marijuana and to hang out. Because he had probably
used the washroom there, it is possible his pubic hair, which
was found stuck in blood on Wheeler's arm, was shed at the suite
some other time, Brayford said.
A pure sample of McCullock's
blood found on the outside doorknob could have been left there
on a previous visit, Brayford said.
McCullock, who testified briefly
Friday, said he had a chronic nosebleed problem but he couldn't
remember if he had bled during his last visit with his friend
Dave Parent, Wheeler's roommate.
Brayford said McCullock could
have smeared a small amount of his blood onto Wheeler's jacket
when he moved it off a chair during a previous visit.
Wheeler's mother Roberta, who
has attended every day of the trial accompanied by three supporters
and two victims' services workers, sat forward with her head
hanging down as Brayford talked about the possibility someone
else committed the crime.
Wheeler held her arms close
to her body and rocked herself as Brayford argued that a bright
spot of blood on the doorknob might not have been noticed by
residents using the door.
As he pointed out the Crown's
lack of a motive for McCullock to commit the killing and a pathologist's
description of "overkill," Wheeler silently got up
and quickly left the room.
She returned soon after, sitting
quietly for the rest of the proceedings.
Dahl said of all the people
who came to the apartment to buy marijuana and the numerous friends
who had visited the suite that day, it was McCullock's DNA that
showed up on door handles and a doorknob, on Wheeler's jacket
and on a water pipe stem. Of all those visitors, it was his pubic
hair that got onto Wheeler's dead body, he said.
The day before Wheeler was
killed, McCullock pawned camera equipment and would have had
money to buy marijuana, Dahl said.
Two days after Wheeler was
killed, McCullock pawned the same kind of Discman that was stolen
the night of the killing.
"What are the chances
of an innocent explanation for those things?" Dahl asked.
McCullock uses medical
problem in defence
Lana Haight. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: May 8, 2004. pg. A.3
Dominic McCullock says he
did not kill Jaime Wheeler and any of his blood found in her
apartment could have resulted from his chronic nose bleeding
problem.
McCullock, now 23, took the
stand in his own defence at his second-degree murder trial in
Saskatoon on Friday afternoon. He was the only defence witness.
Wheeler was found dead in her
basement suite at 521 10th St. East on March 12, 2000. The university
student had been stabbed and slashed 56 times.
McCullock was charged in connection
with her death in November 2002 after his DNA was found to match
samples taken from the crime scene. It was present in blood on
Wheeler's jacket and on a door as well as in a pubic hair stuck
in dried blood on Wheeler's forearm.
On Friday, McCullock told the
jury of six men and six women that he has had a chronic nose
bleeding problem in the winter since he was a child.
"I wouldn't remember if
I bled on something or not," he testified under questioning
by his lawyer Hugh Harradence.
McCullock admitted going to
Wheeler's apartment between 20 and 30 times from January to March
of 2000. He said he'd go a couple of times a week to buy small
amounts of marijuana from her roommate David Parent.
Sometimes McCullock, Parent
and Wheeler would get high together by smoking marijuana using
a water pipe, he said.
Under cross-examination, McCullock
explained his DNA could have ended up on Wheeler's jacket because
he may have moved the jacket off a chair before sitting down
during one of his visits.
"There would be many reasons
to touch her jacket," he said.
In the course of the examination
by Harradence, which lasted about five minutes, McCullock twice
denied involvement in Wheeler's murder, saying he neither killed
her nor knows who did.
McCullock told the court he
learned of Wheeler's death while at school on the Monday after
she was found.
"I was pretty shocked
personally," he said. "The fact that I was just there
. . . I had been there to buy marijuana."
McCullock said when he heard
that Wheeler had died, he went to see Parent who was staying
at his parents' home "to comfort him."
In his cross-examination, Crown
prosecutor Dan Dahl wondered why McCullock, who said he was a
friend of Parent, didn't continue their friendship after Wheeler's
death.
"He stopped selling weed,"
replied McCullock.
According to evidence presented
to the court earlier in the trial, McCullock sold a compact disc
player two days after Wheeler died. One of the items reported
missing by Parent after Wheeler's death was a blue Shockwave
disc player.
In his testimony, McCullock
said the disc player he pawned was black and had been given to
his girlfriend by her sister. He said he sold it so he could
take his girlfriend out for her birthday.
"I was living at home
and didn't have a lot of money," he said.
Outside court, Dahl said the
case against McCullock is circumstantial.
"No one was here to testify
that they saw Mr. McCullock kill Miss Wheeler. So there's no
direct evidence of it. We're simply asking the jury to draw the
inference at the end of the day and that is the only inference
that can be drawn," he told reporters.
In a separate interview, Harradence
said it was important for the jury to hear from McCullock himself
that he is innocent.
"He was eager to testify
and he wanted to testify," said Harradence.
After two weeks of evidence,
the Crown and the defence will present their final arguments
to the court on Monday. Queen's Bench Justice Robert Laing plans
to give his charge to the jury on Tuesday.
Jury hears DNA evidence
in Wheeler murder case
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: May 6, 2004. pg. A.12
Dominic McCullock's DNA was
found in blood on three door handles at Jaime Wheeler's suite,
on the sleeve of her jacket and in bodily fluid on the stem of
a marijuana water pipe that was found in the front yard of the
home where she died, the jury at his second- degree murder trial
heard Wednesday.
McCullock, 23, is accused of
stabbing the 20-year-old university student 56 times in her basement
suite at 521 10th St. East on March 12, 2000.
McCullock was charged in November
2002 after his DNA matched samples found at the suite, where
he had often come to buy marijuana from Wheeler's roommate, David
Parent.
Norma Szakacs, an RCMP forensic
biologist in charge of evidence recovery at the Regina lab, spent
a second day on the witness stand Wednesday.
She said blood found on walls,
the floor, furniture, a television, magazines and paper in the
suite matched Wheeler's sample.
Defence lawyer Mark Brayford
focused on the possibility of human error in DNA handling and
interpretation.
Under cross-examination by
Brayford, Szakacs acknowledged the Regina lab once mixed up samples
in a different murder case. The mistake was found after police
asked the lab to check results that didn't make sense.
Brayford was particularly interested
in two different opinions about the origin of a pubic hair found
stuck in blood on Wheeler's arm.
The Regina lab found Wheeler
was the major contributor to a mixed DNA profile extracted from
the pubic hair root tip.
A lab in Louisiana later tested
another type of cell from the hair shaft and found the hair was
a product of McCullock's body, Brayford said.
An analyst from the Louisiana
lab will give evidence about those findings today.
When Szakacs first received
the hair, she snipped off the root end and sent it to another
department of the lab for DNA analysis.
Nuclear DNA can be extracted
from the cells in the root sheath and in white blood cells.
The Regina tests revealed a
mixed profile, with Wheeler contributing more of the DNA and
McCullock contributing less.
Szakacs originally thought
the greater presence of Wheeler's DNA meant it was her pubic
hair, she said, though she added one can never be certain when
the profile is mixed.
Brayford also questioned Szakacs'
ability to differentiate between pubic and chest hair. Szakacs
stood by her opinion that it was a pubic hair.
A folding knife from the apartment
revealed only the DNA of Parent, Wheeler's roommate.
Parent previously testified
that another knife was missing from the coffee table after the
killing.
It was a folding hunting knife
with a decorative inlay in the handle.
The trial has not heard any
other evidence about that knife.
Two mugs on the coffee table
revealed the DNA of two of Wheeler's friends, Micheil Clark and
Renee Starkell, who had visited the apartment on Friday, March
10, 2000.
The Regina lab profiled and
ruled out more than 200 people during the investigation, Szakacs
said.
Defendant's DNA found
at crime scene
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: May 5, 2004. pg. A.3
DNA found in blood on Jaime
Wheeler's jacket and on the outside back door of the house where
she lived matched Dominic McCullock's, an RCMP forensic biologist
testified at McCullock's second-degree murder trial Tuesday.
Wheeler, 21, was found dead
March 12, 2000, in her basement suite at 521 10th St. East. She
had been stabbed 56 times.
McCullock, now 23, was charged
in her death in November 2002 after DNA analysis of his blood
matched that from an unknown male found at the Wheeler crime
scene.
McCullock was friends with
Wheeler's roommate, David Parent, and often came to the suite
to buy marijuana from him.
Norma Szakacs, who has a PhD
in molecular biology and has been analysing DNA at the RCMP forensics
lab in Regina for 10 years, was qualified as an expert witness
at the trial.
She said the possibility of
a random match with another member of the Canadian Caucasian
population is about one in 130 billion. It was even less likely
to be an aboriginal person, she said, listing that statistical
possibility as one in 1.5 quadrillion.
She said it is "extremely
unlikely" the blood came from anyone other than McCullock.
Szakacs had already given the
jury an hour-long lecture, complete with coloured handouts, on
how DNA profiling works. She explained how scientists examine
repeating patterns of information in chromosomes to create DNA
profiles.
The defence has questioned
previous witnesses at this trial, which began last Monday, about
the possibility of their having inadvertently spread blood from
the basement suite to door knobs and an outside gate.
Parent, who found the body
around noon on March 12, has said he was so distraught at the
time it is possible he could have gotten blood on his hands without
realizing it when he picked up his dog, which had been loose
in the suite.
Defence lawyer Mark Brayford
has also asked questions suggesting the dog's coat could have
picked up a pubic hair from another part of the apartment and
deposited it on Wheeler's body, where it was found stuck in blood
on her arm.
Brayford questioned Szakacs
Tuesday on whether a chest hair or navel hair might be mistaken
for a pubic hair. She said pubic hairs have distinctive characteristics,
such as variation in diameter.
Wheeler murder suspect
sold missing disc player, jury hears:
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: May 4, 2004. pg. A.8
Defence says origin of item
questionable
Police seeking Jaime Wheeler's
killer somehow overlooked a portable Panasonic disc player sold
by Dominic McCullock as they pored over thousands of pawnshop
transactions in the months after the murder, the jury at McCullock's
second-degree murder trial heard Monday.
McCullock, 23, is accused of
stabbing the 21-year-old university student 56 times in her basement
suite at 521 10th St. East on March 12, 2000.
The six-foot-tall man, then
19, was a friend of Wheeler's roommate, David Parent, who regularly
sold marijuana to him at the apartment.
McCullock was identified as
a suspect in the case in November 2002, after his blood sample
matched DNA found at the crime scene.
Defence lawyer Hugh Harradence
suggested Monday the fact the item sold by McCullock at Cash
Connection Pawn Shop was overlooked indicated that a closer inspection
of a now-destroyed record must have revealed it was not the item
missing from Wheeler's basement suite.
McCullock had made a flurry
of sales to pawn shops around that time. Records show he sold
a pair of speakers, a woman's ring and a camera lens in the two
weeks prior to the killing. He sold a disc player two days after
and a camera the day after that.
The roommate Parent told the
court last week that he had noticed four items missing from the
apartment after the homicide: a Panasonic Shockwave compact disc
player, model SWL303; two folding knives and a Vista telephone
programmed to store the phone numbers of anyone who called Wheeler's
line.
The telephone had been ripped
from the wall. SaskTel records show that happened at 3:01 a.m.
March 12.
Parent knew the disc player
well. It had been his and he had given it to Wheeler to keep
until he came up with rent money he owed her. Wheeler normally
carried the player in the zip pocket of her jacket and Parent
had recently seen the earphone cord hanging from the pocket.
Police at the crime scene found
Wheeler's jacket on the floor near the door, stained with blood.
The disc player was gone.
Saskatoon police Const. David
Hudson testified Monday that in December 2000 he was assigned
to look through pawn records for items missing from the Wheeler
residence.
He estimates he looked at 6,000
daily logs from pawn shops throughout the city, which listed
about 90,000 transactions.
The logs are brief summaries
of transactions compiled by pawn shop staff based on detailed
transaction cards filled out for each item that comes into a
shop.
The cards include information
taken from two pieces of identification of the person pawning
the item and a detailed description of the item, including its
serial number and model.
Police pick up the cards and
logs from the pawn shops at least weekly, often two or three
times per week, Hudson said.
The cards are kept for 21 months
and then destroyed, he said.
By the time Hudson was assigned
to check the pawn records for the specific missing items, nine
months after Wheeler's death, other officers had already checked
the logs looking for the names of about 50 people who were considered
persons of interest in the investigation.
Under cross-examination by
Harradence, Hudson said if he had found the items he sought on
the log, he probably would have looked at the more detailed transaction
card for that item.
There would have been a great
many transactions to check more closely; Harradence pointed out
that in two days of records tendered as evidence at the trial,
three portable disc players were sold or pawned at Saskatoon
stores.
But Hudson did not find a match
for Wheeler's missing disc player until sometime after November
2002, when he was told to search specifically for items sold
by McCullock.
Hudson found a log from Cash
Connection Pawn Shop, which showed McCullock had sold a Panasonic
disc player on March 14, 2000, just two days after the killing.
Hudson then found that the
detailed transaction card had already been destroyed. McCullock's
name came to his attention 31 months after Wheeler's death.
Jurors view Wheeler crime
scene video
Darren Bernhardt. Star -
Phoenix. Saskatoon, Sask.: May 1, 2004. pg. A.3
EDITOR'S NOTE: Some readers
may find parts of this story disturbing
Relatives of stabbing victim
Jaime Wheeler ran from the courtroom Friday and sobbed loudly
in the hall as a video of the crime scene was played showing
the young girl's bloodied body.
The video was prefaced with
a warning from Queen's Bench Justice Robert Laing that it depicted
"disturbing" images.
"If you're squeamish at
all, I suppose you'd not want to be present," Laing said,
before calling in the six-man, six-woman jury. "Everybody's
been forewarned."
City police Sgt. Reginald Smith
shot the video the day the 21- year-old's body was discovered
by her roommate in their basement suite. It shows the cluttered
Broadway-area suite, panning across Wheeler's body lying at the
foot of a couch.
She is on her back, arms partly
folded by her chest and legs crossed at her ankles. Her white
socks are blood-soaked. Blood also stains her shirt and skin,
where cuts are evident from her attack in the early hours of
March 12, 2000.
She was stabbed and slashed
56 times. Dominic McCullock, 22, is on trial for second-degree
murder. He was charged in 2002 after DNA from blood and a pubic
hair on Wheeler matched his.
Crown prosecutor Dan Dahl didn't
want to comment to the media about the impact of the video, but
noted "the images seen on the video are images in still
photographs in this trial, too."
The video gives a better perspective
than photographs, he added.
"You see all of the furniture
that gets talked about and their relation to one another -- rooms
and their relation to one another."
Defence lawyer Mark Brayford
agreed it was relevant.
"There's no question the
deceased was murdered, but without being able to get the overview
of what happened at that murder scene, it would be difficult
for the jurors to have an appreciation of where the exhibits
were collected from," he said outside court.
Dahl spent much of the day
having Smith explain where and how all of the exhibits were collected,
when they were sent to a crime lab and when they returned.
Brayford used his cross-examination
to poke holes in the dependability of DNA and Smith's ability
to collect it.
Smith had been an identification
officer for three years and learned his methods through colleagues.
Brayford noted that DNA collecting was "pretty novel"
then.
"We're now at a time when
you can collect a few cells and find out who it belongs to. We're
collecting samples that you can't even see," he said. While
that has benefits, "the danger of cross- contamination is
much greater," he said.
Commonly handled objects, such
as telephones and door knobs, can have many profiles and "unpredictable
results," Brayford said.
Wheeler's apartment was understood
to be a busy place with many friends visiting her or roommate,
David Parent. McCullock was an acquaintance of Parent and visited
the suite in the two months prior to the killing.
In the months after the murder,
police had DNA samples from about 200 people analysed at the
Regina crime lab, with some also being sent to a U.S.-based forensic
lab, ReliaGene Technologies, Inc., in New Orleans.
Brayford noted in court that
one exhibit, a hair sample, was reported as No. 53. It was sent
to ReliaGene and returned as sample Nos. 53 and 53-1. It turned
out an unexpected hair was also in the vial collected by police.
Brayford also questioned how
often the protective gloves used by officers are changed.
Smith said they are checked
routinely for blood stains and changed immediately, or every
so often if no stain is present.
"But we just agreed that
some DNA cannot even be seen," Brayford said. "So how
do you know it is not there?"
Smith was asked to show the
method of collecting samples by using the microphone as an example.
From that, Brayford learned the cap of the vials are often touched
on the inside by the officers' gloves.
Brayford also suggested contamination
could have come from Parent's dog, who was running loose because
the door to the house was ajar the day Wheeler's body was found.
Parent had been out all night at a rave.
"Did you take any steps
to examine the dog for DNA or take swabs from the dog,"
Brayford asked.
"No," Smith replied.
The trial, which wrapped up
its first week, is scheduled for a total of three weeks.
Housemates testify about
night of murder
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: Apr 30, 2004. pg. A.6
A university student who lived
on the main floor of the house where Jaime Wheeler was stabbed
to death in the basement suite was awoken by the outside back
door opening in the early morning hours of March 12, 2000.
Wheeler, a 21-year-old university
student, was found dead from 56 stab wounds the next day. Dominic
McCullock, now 22, was charged with second-degree murder more
than two years later, after DNA from the scene matched his.
Lee Ann Harasymchuk, the upstairs
tenant, testified Thursday that when she heard the door open,
she thought it might be one of her two roommates.
When Harasymchuk heard the
door open, she looked at the clock and remembers that it was
2 or 2:30 a.m. "on the nose," but has never been able
to recall which.
Harasymchuk turned on the light,
thinking she would get up to say hello, but no one entered the
main floor suite, so she turned off the light and went back to
sleep, she said.
She was woken again some time
later by the whining of a dog outside that belonged to the downstairs
tenants. It seemed unusual that the pup was outside in the middle
of the night and she considered letting it in, but then, deciding
that the owner must have placed him outside for a reason, she
went back to sleep.
Crown prosecutor Dan Dahl entered
as an exhibit a letter from a SaskTel official, who said a review
of records showed the telephone in the downstairs suite was disconnected
at 3:01 a.m.
One of Harasymchuk's roommates,
Cory Tremeer, had a bedroom set up in the detached garage.
He testified Thursday that
he was sleeping in the garage when he was woken about 3:30 or
4 a.m. by the downstairs tenant's dog, which was barking and
running around in the yard. Tremeer said he went back to sleep.
The next morning, as he went
into the house, Tremeer was annoyed to see the outside back door
standing ajar. The pup from the basement suite was on the landing
inside.
Otherwise, nothing unusual
came to his notice, he said.
He did not see a spot of blood
on the outside door knob, which was later observed by the first
police officer to respond to a 911 call.
The defence suggests the blood
may have been spread to the door knob by one of the people who
later discovered Wheeler's body.
Tremeer, then a graduate student,
spent most of that day at the university, unaware of the dramatic
events unfolding at the house.
David Parent, who shared the
basement suite with Wheeler and who finished his second day of
testimony Thursday, had returned home, after staying out all
night, during the noon hour.
He was surprised to find his
dog running loose in the yard. He went downstairs, where he found
the suite door ajar, blood on the carpet and Wheeler lying on
the floor.
In a panic, he ran upstairs,
banged on the door and asked Harasymchuk to call an ambulance.
Harasymchuk said she carried
the cordless phone downstairs and followed the 911 operator's
instructions to check for a pulse. She was preparing to attempt
CPR when the police and ambulance attendants arrived and ushered
her out.
Both emergency medical technicians
(EMTs) touched Wheeler's body during brief examinations that
told them the woman was dead, they testified Thursday.
EMT Chantal Lepage said she
was careful to remove her bloody latex gloves before touching
anything else, but her colleague, Jason Trask, said he couldn't
remember when he removed his.
Trask acknowledged under cross-examination
by defence lawyer Hugh Harradence that he may have left the bloody
gloves on until he was back inside the ambulance.
Blood with McCullock's DNA
was found on the outside doorknob and on the front yard gate,
through which the EMTs and police arrived.
It is possible the front gate
was also used by the killer because the back yard gate made so
much noise when it was opened that it had, on other occasions,
woken Tremeer in the garage.
Tremeer said Thursday he didn't
hear anyone use the back gate that night.
Murder trial set to resume
Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon,
Sask.: Apr 29, 2004. pg. A.10
The second-degree murder trial
of Dominic McCullock did not sit Wednesday.
The trial for the man accused
of killing university student Jaime Wheeler in March 2000 resumes
today.
Defence points to other
suspects: Many people observed at home, witnesses say
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: Apr 28, 2004. pg. A.3
There were numerous people
who might be suspected in the March 2000 stabbing death of university
student Jaime Wheeler, defence lawyers for Dominic McCullock
said during Day 2 of his second- degree murder trial.
There was Wheeler's ex-girlfriend,
Nicole Prince, with whom she'd had a stormy romantic relationship.
Wheeler's roommate at the time
of the murder, David Parent, testified Tuesday that "it
was apparent (Wheeler and Prince) loved each other, but there
were issues."
He said the couple had broken
up because Prince had been unfaithful. The two women still spoke
on the phone daily and Prince was still "pushing the relationship
issue," Parent said.
No one other than McCullock
was ever charged in connection with Wheeler's death.
Parent, 26, spent most of Tuesday
on the witness stand at Court of Queen's Bench, during which
he talked about his and Wheeler's involvement in the drug-filled
rave scene, about his trafficking various drugs and about finding
Wheeler's body when he returned home after an all-night rave
and a house party.
Parent said he returned home
around noon on March 12 and found his puppy loose in the yard
with no one watching him, which was unusual. Parent then found
the basement suite door ajar, he said.
Inside, he saw a large, brown
stain on the carpet and then noticed Wheeler lying in a semi-fetal
position. In a panic, he ran upstairs and asked the occupant,
Lee Ann Ruttan, to call 911.
Ruttan did, and carried the
cordless phone to the suite, where Parent watched as Ruttan apparently
followed the 911 operator's instructions to feel Wheeler's throat,
face and chest.
As soon as Ruttan touched Wheeler,
Parent said he knew she was dead.
It was a stunning moment for
Parent, who had considered Wheeler one of his best friends. He
stood there, frozen, for what seemed like a long time, before
his dog drew his attention and he snapped out of it, he said.
He picked up the pup and left
the house. Out in the yard, he hid some marijuana under a rock
as he waited for emergency personnel.
An autopsy showed Wheeler had
been stabbed 56 times.
McCullock's lawyer, Mark Brayford,
questioned Parent extensively about the movements of Caillou,
the furry, three-month-old, husky- German shepherd cross, suggesting
the dog could have spread DNA around. Parent acknowledged the
dog's coat could have picked up a hair from the bathroom and
dropped it elsewhere.
The dog was free to roam throughout
the suite, and was there before the death and possibly after.
The dog followed Parent into the suite and Parent couldn't say
exactly what the dog was doing in the frantic moments after the
horrible discovery.
Parent acknowledged he was
so distraught he might not have noticed if there was blood on
the dog's coat, which could have spread to his hand and the door
knobs, but he was fairly certain he would have noticed such a
thing.
Brayford observed outside the
courtroom that suspects linked to crimes with DNA often have
no innocent explanations for being at the crime scene, but that
is not the case with his client.
McCullock, now 22, was arrested
in Sylvan Lake, Alta., in November 2002, more than 2 1/2 years
after the death. He was charged with Wheeler's murder after his
blood sample matched DNA found in blood and a pubic hair at the
murder scene.
Police had already ruled out
about 200 persons of interest in the case through DNA profiling.
Parent said he and McCullock
had been friends for about four years at the time of the killing.
The two had hung out and often smoked marijuana together.
In the three months prior to
the murder, McCullock had come to the suite to buy marijuana
from Parent 15 or 20 times, about every three to five days, Parent
said. McCullock often stayed and visited after making purchases.
Wheeler often joined McCullock and Parent in smoking marijuana,
he said.
Parent said Wheeler and McCullock
had had conversations and Parent had no reason to think his petite
roommate did not like McCullock. Nor did McCullock ever say anything
to Parent about Wheeler.
Parent acknowledged that McCullock
had probably used the toilet at the suite, and could have been
there as recently as the day before, though he could not say
for sure when the tall, husky man was last there.
Under cross-examination by
Brayford, Parent also answered questions about other people who
might be considered suspect.
Among those brought to the
jury's attention was Parent's ex- girlfriend, Danielle Kopp,
who had been distraught when Parent broke up with her a year
earlier.
Either on the night of the
killing or a few days prior to it, Kopp had visited Parent at
the 10th Street basement suite where Wheeler was killed.
Kopp, who also testified Tuesday,
said she was over the breakup by March 2000 when she stopped
in to visit Parent briefly. Kopp recalled that she had talked
with Parent in his bedroom for about 30 minutes around 9:30 p.m.
on Saturday, March 11.
There was another acquaintance
of Parent's, referred to mysteriously as Mr. J., who was seen
a few days after Wheeler's death wearing sunglasses that looked
like hers. Mr. J later persisted in wearing a T-shirt that said
Born Serial Killer, even after Parent told him it was offensive.
There were also 70 to 100 people
who had come to the basement suite to buy marijuana, ecstasy
or other drugs from Parent in the six months he had lived there.
Woman stabbed 56 times:
Crown
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: Apr 27, 2004. pg. A.1.Fro
University student Jaime Wheeler
was stabbed 56 times in the early morning hours of Sunday, March
12, 2000, the jury hearing the second-degree murder trial of
Dominic McCullock heard Monday.
The 21-year-old's body was
discovered by her roommate, David Parent, who returned to their
Broadway Avenue-area basement suite around noon that day, after
staying out all night at a rave dance party, Crown prosecutor
Dan Dahl told the jury of six men and six women in opening remarks
at Court of Queen's Bench.
McCullock, 22, was arrested
in Sylvan Lake, Alta., and charged with murder in 2002 after
DNA from blood and a pubic hair found at the scene matched his,
Dahl said.
Dahl stressed he was not giving
evidence but rather was telling the jury what to expect from
witnesses who will give evidence for them to evaluate.
Despite the presence of the
accused's pubic hair, which was found stuck in blood on Wheeler's
forearm, the Crown is not alleging sexual assault. If such an
allegation was being made, the charge would have been first-degree
murder, Dahl said in an interview.
McCullock was an acquaintance
of Parent's and had visited the suite in the two months prior
to the murder, Dahl told the jury.
In the months after the murder,
police had DNA samples from about 200 people analysed at the
Regina crime lab, Dahl said.
The Crown will also present
documents police obtained from a local pawn shop which show that
the accused pawned a Panasonic Discman-style CD player two days
after Wheeler's death.
Wheeler's Panasonic disc player
was missing after the murder, as was a knife she usually kept
on the coffee table, Dahl told the jury.
The first witnesses were asked
about events beginning Friday, March 10.
Micheil Clark, a friend of
Wheeler's, testified that he, Donald Hobday and Erin Starkell
picked Wheeler up that Friday and went for coffee. The four spent
about two hours at Robins Doughnuts on Second Avenue, then returned
to Wheeler's suite at 521 10th St. East.
They watched television, played
video games and the women smoked marijuana, Clark said. The three
friends left around 4 or 5 a.m.
Wheeler worked the next day
at Kelsey's restaurant, where she was employed part time as a
line cook while attending the University of Saskatchewan in pursuit
of a psychology degree.
Delorese Knaus, who worked
with Wheeler, told court she remembers giving Wheeler a ride
home about 5:45 p.m. on Saturday.
Wheeler was in a good mood
and the two of them joked and laughed the whole way home, Knaus
said.
Another friend, Doriane Dreher,
testified that Wheeler called her around 6 p.m. that evening.
The two talked, among other
things, about Wheeler's annoyance with Parent, who owed her money
for the rent. Dreher called Wheeler back shortly before 7 p.m.
and recommended she move. They discussed Wheeler's desire to
quit using drugs and "get her priorities in order,"
Dreher said.
Soon after, Parent arrived
home with two friends, Rhonda Kozak and Amber McNally. Kozak
told court that the women stayed for about 45 minutes, talking
about the rave they were going to later. Wheeler told them she
wasn't going to the rave, Kozak said.
McNally testified that Wheeler
was annoyed with Parent because his dog had soiled in the apartment.
McNally and Kozak left and
later saw Parent at the rave. McNally said she saw Parent there
throughout the night and that he was still there when she left
at 7 a.m. Sunday.
The Crown prosecutor said he
will call other witnesses who will testify that after the women
left the suite Saturday night, another of Parent's friends stopped
in and left around 10:30 p.m. Parent left for the rave about
11 p.m, said Dahl.
Another person spoke to Wheeler
on the phone around 11:30 p.m. and she told that person she intended
to stay home and study, Dahl said.
Dahl also told court that witnesses
will say residents of the upstairs suite heard Parent's dog bark
sometime around 3 or 4 a.m. A SaskTel employee will say the suite's
telephone went "off line" around 3 a.m.
The Crown intends to call 28
witnesses in all at the trial, which is expected to last three
weeks.
Dahl is being assisted by Melody
Kujawa. McCullock is represented by Mark Brayford and Hugh Harradence.
Justice Robert Laing is presiding.
Hearing held for man accused
in fatal stabbing; [Final Edition]
Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon, Sask.: Feb 10, 2004. pg. A.3
The man accused of killing
university student Jaime Wheeler in her Broadway area apartment
almost four years ago appeared in Queen's Bench court Monday
for a pretrial hearing.
Dominic McCullock, 21, was
arrested in 2002 in Sylvan Lake, Alta., and has been in custody
since then.
He returns for trial April
19 on one count of second degree murder.
Wheeler killing suspect
committed to stand trial
Lori Coolican. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: Mar 15, 2003. pg. A.3
Wearing buttons displaying
her smiling face, family and friends of Jaime Wheeler exchanged
hugs and bittersweet smiles at the provincial courthouse Friday
after Dominic McCullock, the young man accused of murdering her
in her Broadway-area apartment, was committed to stand trial
in Court of Queen's Bench.
Having spent the three-year
anniversary of her death listening to grisly forensic evidence,
they were clearly relieved to have the week-long preliminary
hearing over with. The evidence is banned from publication at
this stage.
"Wednesday marked the
third year since our precious Jaime has been so brutally and
viciously taken from our lives," the family wrote in a prepared
statement released Friday.
"During this preliminary
hearing we are having a difficult time dealing with our emotions
based on evidence being released throughout the past few days.
The family and friends of Jaime would like to express our appreciation
to the press for respecting our privacy throughout this difficult
time."
Wheeler, a shy 20-year-old
university student and part-time cook, was found viciously stabbed
to death in her basement suite on March 12, 2000. The crime remained
unsolved for more than two years while police sorted through
hundreds of possible suspects.
The investigation did not initially
include McCullock, 20 years old when arrested, who lived in Lakeview
with his parents at the time. He moved to Sylvan Lake, Alta.,
last year and was arrested there in December for second-degree
murder in Wheeler's death.
McCullock was later also charged
with sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, aggravated
assault and attempted sexual assault in connection with two unsolved
attacks on women in Lakeview on Jan. 20 and 22, 2000.
Those charges have been adjourned
while the murder case proceeds.
"We are pleased that there
is sufficient evidence to take this case to trial," the
family wrote.
"But for the family and
friends of Jaime, this nightmare will never be over."
They issued thanks to the city
police for the long hours spent on the investigation, and to
the Victims Services workers who have supported them throughout
the ordeal.
Hearing begins for accused
Wheeler killer:
Lori Coolican. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: Mar 11, 2003. pg. A.3
20-year-old suspect faces
family of slain U of S student
The young man accused of brutally
killing Jaime Wheeler in her Broadway-area basement suite almost
three years ago sat passively before a crowd of her friends and
family as his preliminary hearing began Monday in provincial
court.
Sporting a grey sweatshirt
and a new hair colour -- solid black instead of orange spikes
-- 20-year-old Dominic McCullock looked calm and prepared for
at least a week of testimony.
His lawyer, Mark Brayford,
didn't see it that way.
"He's a young man that's
obviously very concerned, very nervous (and) scared, as one might
expect anyone facing such a serious charge (would be),"
Brayford told reporters outside the courthouse.
"He's pleased the judicial
system was able to get this case on relatively quickly, and (he's)
anxious to see what the evidence is."
Preliminary hearings are held
to determine whether the Crown has enough evidence to take a
case to trial. They are open to the public, but the evidence
is banned from publication. The defence rarely calls witnesses
of its own.
Police charged McCullock with
second-degree murder last December, following a nearly three-year
investigation into Wheeler's death.
The quiet 20-year-old University
of Saskatchewan psychology student was discovered curled up in
a pool of blood on the floor of her 10th Street East basement
apartment when her roommate came home from an all-night rave
party at about noon on March 12.
There had been no forced entry,
and the level of violence evident in the room led investigators
to suspect she knew her killer, though she did not seem to have
any enemies.
Police have said McCullock
was not initially a suspect. He was living in Alberta at the
time of his arrest, but had only recently moved out of Saskatoon.
Within two weeks of his arrest,
city police charged him with additional counts of sexual assault
with a weapon, forcible confinement, aggravated assault and attempted
sexual assault.
Those charges, which will be
dealt with after the murder charge, relate to two previously
unsolved attacks on women in the Lakeview area on Jan. 20 and
22, 2000. McCullock lived in the area with his parents before
he left town.
Close relatives of Wheeler
were red-eyed and sombre as court began Monday. They refused
to speak to reporters, but said they may give a statement on
Wednesday, which will mark the three-year anniversary of her
death.
McCullock is being held in
the Saskatoon Correctional Centre while his trial is pending.
The preliminary hearing is expected to conclude by the end of
next week.
Neighbourhood residents
relieved by recent arrest
Ryan Lorge. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: Dec 12, 2002. pg. A.3
Lakeview residents hope the
man responsible for multiple sexual attacks in the normally quiet
neighbourhood over the past four years is now safely in custody.
"Hopefully that's him,
and if it is then that's good," said neighbourhood resident
Greg Mylks. "The residents in this area have certainly been
a little bit concerned."
"That's what I'm wondering,
is if they've got the right person or not. I don't know,"
said Danielle Lobsinger, who still often walks her dog near the
scenes of the attacks.
On Wednesday Dominic McCullock,
who stands accused in the death of university student Jaime Wheeler,
was charged with four offences relating to two attacks that took
place on Stillwater Drive. Those incidents happened on Jan. 22,
2000, and Jan. 20, 2002.
Lakeview's most recent violent
incident happened Nov. 9, when a man wearing a dark balaclava
and carrying a kitchen knife broke into a home in the 1900 block
of McKercher Drive. He raped a 30-year-old woman, then fled.
"Nobody would expect that
in our neighbourhood. Maybe in a downtown area or something,
a busy area. But in our area?" said Mary Gonari, who lives
in an apartment complex on Stillwater Drive. "It's quiet.
There are some teenagers running around, but that's about it."
A Saskatoon Police Service
press release issued after the Nov. 9 attack said investigators
were looking into "the possibility that this assault is
connected to sexual assaults that have occurred in this area
over the past several years." There have been three others
previous cases of sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults
in the Lakeview area since July of 1999.
McCullock was arrested in connection
with Wheeler's death Dec. 3 in Sylvan Lake, Alta., where he had
been living for the past six months. According to Acting Insp.
Keith Atkinson of Saskatoon Police Service, investigators then
began looking into a possible link to other crimes.
Atkinson declined to say if
McCullock is being investigated in connection with the most recent
Lakeview attack.
Kyle Krushelniski, vice-president
of the Lakeview Community Association. is confident in police
efforts.
"If it is the guy, that's
great. If there's another one out there, we hope they find him
pretty quick."
Wheeler family speaks
Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon,
Sask.: Dec 12, 2002. pg. A.4
The following is a public
statement by the friends and family of Jaime Wheeler, who was
stabbed to death in her Broadway-area basement suite March 12,
2000. It was read by her close friend, Michelle Oppermann, after
Dominic McCullock, accused in Wheeler's killing, appeared in
provincial court Wednesday.
This has been a very difficult
time for us, the family, and for Jaime's many friends. For almost
three years, we have been overwhelmed by feelings of denial,
grief, sorrow, anger and despair.
It has been an ordeal that
we would not wish upon anyone. We have been tormented by many
unanswered questions as to who and why anyone would have committed
such a horrible, horrible act on our precious Jaime.
The pending charges have brought
us some relief and hope that our questions might now be answered.
But it will never bring our Jaime back. We can only hold her
dearly in our hearts, and never in our arms.
We would also like to express
our sympathy to the family and friends of the accused, Dominic
McCullock.
Most importantly, we would
like to express our gratefulness to the many detectives from
the Saskatoon police force who have so diligently and tirelessly
worked on our behalf to bring justice to Jaime's untimely and
brutal death.
Thank you to all our relatives,
friends and friends of Jaime's who have given us much needed
love and support during this difficult time.
Accused stabber in court
Calgary Herald. Calgary,
Alta.: Dec 7, 2002. pg. A.15
The man accused of stabbing
a 20-year-old university student to death nearly three years
ago made a brief appearance in provincial court Friday.
Dominic McCullock, 20, has
been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jaime
Wheeler.
He was arrested in Sylvan Lake,
a resort community south of Edmonton, earlier in the week and
transported back to Saskatchewan to face the charge.
Judge Ron Bell adjourned McCullock's
case until next Wednesday, while defence lawyer Dan Shapiro waits
for disclosure of the Crown's evidence.
Wheeler, from Nipawin, Sask.,
was a third-year psychology major and worked part-time at a restaurant
when she was found stabbed to death in her basement apartment
on March 12, 2000.
Since then, police have investigated
hundreds of people as possible suspects.
Wheeler's friends and family
packed the courtroom Friday in hopes of catching a glimpse of
McCullock.
"It's been so long that
it's been really difficult," friend Elizabeth Smith said
outside the courthouse.
"It's about time the family
finds a little closure. As long as we can keep Jaime's memory
alive, I think that's the most important thing."
Courtroom packed to see
accused killer
Moose Jaw Times Herald.
Moose Jaw, Sask.: Dec 7, 2002. pg. 8
SASKATOON (SNN) -- Friends
and relatives of Jaime Wheeler packed a provincial courtroom
Friday to catch a first glimpse of the man accused of killing
her nearly three years ago.
They had only a few moments
to examine 20-year-old Dominic McCullock behind the Plexiglas
of the prisoner's box as a Crown prosecutor formally charged
him with second-degree murder.
Judge Ron Bell adjourned the
case until next Wednesday, while defence lawyer Dan Shapiro waits
for disclosure of the Crown's evidence. McCullock has not entered
a plea, and Shapiro left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
A victims services worker said
the Wheelers don't feel ready to make public statements yet,
but may appoint a spokesperson later on.
The 20-year-old university
student was found stabbed to death in her Broadway-area basement
suite on March 12, 2000. The crime has remained unsolved for
more than two years while police investigated hundreds of people
as possible suspects.
"It's about time,"
friend Elizabeth Smith said outside the courthouse. "It's
been so long that it's been really difficult. It's about time
the family finds a little closure. As long as we can keep Jaime's
memory alive, I think that's the most important thing."
Curtis Boyd, another friend,
said he doesn't know what to think right now.
"I just wanted to see
what this guy looked like, I wanted to see the expression on
his face, I wanted to see how he looked at the family,"
Boyd said. "I saw a scared individual, that's all I can
say."
Neither of them had ever seen
or heard of McCullock before.
City police remained tight-lipped
about what led investigators to him. His family has declined
comment, but neighbours at their quiet Lakeview crescent expressed
disbelief that McCullock could be connected to a violent crime.
Police have said they are looking
into the possibility McCullock is connected with other unsolved
crimes in the city, but refuse to specify which incidents they're
talking about.
Arrest made in murder
of Sask. student in 2000
Prince Albert Daily Herald.
Prince Albert, Sask.: Dec 5, 2002. pg. 6
SASKATOON -- A 20-year-old
man has been arrested in connection with the murder of Jaime
Wheeler, a university student who was found stabbed to death
in her Broadway-area basement suite March 12, 2000.
RCMP in Sylvan Lake, Alta.,
arrested the man there Tuesday afternoon, after Saskatoon police
tracked him to that location, said Sgt. Keith Atkinson of the
Saskatoon police.
The man is expected to appear
in Saskatoon provincial court Friday, where he will be formally
charged with murder.
Police are also looking into
the possibility the man is connected with other crimes in Saskatoon,
Atkinson said.
Saskatoon police have investigated
hundreds of people in the murder case that has stymied them for
more than two years.
Wheeler, who was from Nipawin,
was in the third year of a psychology degree program.
Profile yields new leads
in murder
Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon,
Sask.: Apr 5, 2002. pg. A.10
The trail leading to the killer
of Jaime Wheeler is heating back up again, say Saskatoon police,
thanks to new tips from the public about the unsolved murder
case.
"There is definitely new
information and new leads," said Sgt. Keith Atkinson, department
spokesperson.
Three weeks ago, police released
a criminal profile of the person suspected of killing the 20-year-old
University of Saskatchewan student in her Broadway-area home
two years ago.
The profile suggested the suspect
is a white man in his mid-20s who was impulsive and knew Wheeler
before the fatal encounter.
Atkinson said numerous tips
have given the major crimes investigators new leads to follow.
He would not say what those new leads are or if they confirm
the profile.
"There has been different
names mentioned and things like that. They are going about seeing
if these people are suspects. Once they hash through the information
and follow up some of the leads, we don't know where it will
end," said Atkinson.
Suspect held in women's death: Man arrested almost two years
after Wheeler killing; [Final Edition]
Betty Ann Adam. Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon, Sask.: Dec 5, 2002.
pg. A.1.FRO
A 20-year-old man has been
arrested in connection with the death of Jaime Wheeler, a university
student who was found stabbed to death in her Broadway-area basement
suite March 12, 2000.
RCMP in Sylvan Lake, Alta.,
arrested the man there Tuesday afternoon, after Saskatoon police
tracked him to that location, said Sgt. Keith Atkinson of the
Saskatoon police.
The man is expected to appear
in Saskatoon provincial court Friday, where he will be formally
charged with murder.
Police are also looking into
the possibility the man is connected with other crimes in Saskatoon,
Atkinson said.
"We're looking at unsolved
cases right now. Which ones, we can't comment on but if anything
comes to light then we will make that known."
Saskatoon police have investigated
hundreds of people in the murder case that has stymied them for
more than two years.
Wheeler, who was from Nipawin,
was in the third year of a psychology degree program. The 20-year-old
worked part time at Kelsey's Restaurant, where she was a line
pivot in the kitchen and part of a fairly tight-knit group of
employees.
Curtis Boyd, a friend from
Kelsey's restaurant, was surprised and pleased by the news.
"That's the best news
I've heard in a while," Boyd said Wednesday. "I didn't
think they'd ever (arrest) anyone."
Wheeler's family chose not
to comment when contacted Wednesday.
During the investigation, police
also interviewed many people who frequented the rave dance parties
in Saskatoon that Wheeler often attended, but to no avail.
The break came about a month
ago after the man was identified as a person of interest in the
case, Atkinson said.
Residents of the affluent Lakeview
crescent where the man's family lives were shocked at the news.
"We're devastated by this.
We don't believe he's guilty," said a neighbour who asked
that her name not be used.
Another neighbour said the
young man was a quiet but friendly teenager who never caused
any problem in their quiet cul de sac.
"I find it hard to believe.
I never saw him as an aggressive personality. I think they must
have the wrong person," she said.
"He was always very nice
to me," she said, noting that she last saw him in the summer,
when he stopped by to borrow an automotive tool, which he promptly
returned.
Saskatoon police had learned
that the suspect was in Sylvan Lake, a resort community west
of Red Deer, and called the RCMP there to pick him up, said Atkinson.
Sylvan Lake RCMP detachment
Cmdr. Tim Gilbert said Wednesday his staff phoned the man and
asked him to come to the detachment.
He was arrested when he arrived
and taken to a provincial jail in Red Deer. Saskatoon police
picked him up Wednesday.
Atkinson could not say whether
the man knew Wheeler or whether there has been a DNA link because
that is part of the investigation.
The man, who was 18 at the
time of the killing, was not a suspect earlier in the investigation,
Atkinson said.
Police still looking
for Jaime Wheeler's killer
Prince Albert Daily Herald.
Prince Albert, Sask.: Mar 13, 2002. pg. 7
SASKATOON -- He was impulsive,
possessive of women, explosive and familiar.
After stabbing Jaime Wheeler
to death, leaving her curled up on the floor of her basement
suite off Broadway Avenue two years ago, he retreated to a safe
haven nearby to nurse his own wounds. The Caucasian man in his
20s then fled Saskatoon.
After two years and more than
10,000 investigation hours, the major crimes unit of Saskatoon
police still have no name to call the man they believe killed
the 20-year-old University of Saskatchewan student. They might
not have the name, but police now have a criminal profile of
who might be responsible for the death.
Saskatoon police Sgt. Neil
Wylie, the case manager, hopes the profile will trigger someone's
memory about what happened that night -- and who is may responsible.
DNA testing of 150 people resulted in no match to the fresh blood
found at the scene.
"We are looking for a
new, solid direction. We believe out there that someone in the
public has information that will assist us in solving this case,"
said Wylie, one of six investigators on the case.
Police eye criminal profile
for new leads in murder
Kim McNairn. Star - Phoenix.
Saskatoon, Sask.: Mar 12, 2002. pg. A.5
Saskatoon police will release
new information on the unsolved killing of Jaime Wheeler today,
the second-anniversary of the University of Saskatchewan student's
death.
What led to the shy, 20-year-old
woman being brutally stabbed to death in her Broadway-area home
has baffled major crimes investigators for two years.
Plenty of leads have been exhausted.
No charges have been laid.
"What I can say is all
the significant persons of interest have been conclusively eliminated
(as suspects)," said Sgt. Keith Atkinson.
Now with the help of behavioural
analysis techniques, police have created a criminal profile of
who could have been responsible for Wheeler's death.
Atkinson says the profile details
possible characteristics of the culprit, and what actions that
person may have taken before, during and afterward.
He would not release details
of the profiling, noting instead they will be made public at
a news conference today.
"We will be releasing
new information, such as the profiling, in hopes it may jog somebody's
memory as to something they may have seen that may be of interest
to our investigators," he said.
Police also plan to make public
new information about Wheeler's activities around the time of
her death and her last day alive.
In addition to her studies
at the university, she worked in a busy restaurant and enjoyed
dancing with friends, including at rave parties. Friends say
she had just ended a long-term relationship with another woman,
and lived in a house where drugs were regularly used.
She is remembered by many friends
for her love of psychology and literature, her dry sense of humour
and her fondness of playing video games and watching movies.
Her roommate has said that
on the night of the death, Wheeler wanted to stay home to watch
television and study.
He left the basement suite
and Wheeler at 11 p.m., and returned at noon the next day to
find her lifeless body on the floor.
Murder Unsolved
Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon,
Sask.: Dec 19, 2000. pg. A.4
This week, we are asking for
your help in solving the murder of 20 year old Jaime Wheeler,
who was found dead in her basement suite at 521 10th Street East.
Shortly after 1 p.m. on Sunday,
March 12 she was found stabbed to death in her suite.
She was last seen on Saturday
when she left work for home from Kelsey's on Eighth Street at
approximately 5 p.m. Investigators believe she stayed home the
rest of the evening.
Investigators have poured thousands
of hours into this case and followed up many different leads.
At this point they are in the
process of eliminating possible suspects through DNA testing.
They are asking for your help in apprehending her killer.
CRIMES BY DISTRICT
December 11 - December 18
Crime East Central West North
Armed Robbery 0 0 2 0
Residence Break & Enters
7 11 9 3
Business Break & Enters
0 1 0 1
Motor Vehicle Theft 5 5 10
3
Theft From Vehicles 10 19 8
3
If you have information about
this crime, or any other unsolved crime in Saskatoon, call Crime
Stoppers at 931-TIPS (931-8477) or for your high school call
653-TEEN (653-8336).Crime Stoppers will pay a cash award up to
$2,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Crime Stoppers
is a proven program that gets results. When you call Crime Stoppers
you don't have to give your name and you won't have to appear
in court. You can also call Crime Stoppers toll- free anywhere
in Canada at 1-800-222-TIPS. If you are using a SaskTel cell
phone, dial *-TIPS free of charge.
Mom desperate for clues in
woman's stabbing death: Psychology student killed in March would
have celebrated 21st birthday today; [Final Edition]
Jason Warick. Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon, Sask.: Jun 1, 2000.
pg. A.3
Jaime Wheeler would have turned
21 years old today, and the mother of the murdered Saskatoon
woman is pleading for those who have information on her daughter
to come forward.
"I have no idea why or
who. I feel frustrated," Roberta Wheeler said in a telephone
interview from her home in Nipawin.
"It's day by day, but
it's getting more difficult. Reality has set in that she's gone."
Wheeler was killed in mid-March
after someone entered her basement suite off Broadway Avenue
and stabbed her to death.
Police have not laid charges
against anyone, nor do they have anyone in custody.
Roberta Wheeler said she and
her husband, as well as their two sons want to know what happened
to Jaime.
Relatives will gather in Nipawin
today to support Jaime's family, and the group will likely visit
the grave site.
Gone too soon: Two
months after Jaime Wheeler's brutal murder, police are still
searching for her killer; [Final Edition]
Dan Zakreski. Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon, Sask.: May 13, 2000.
pg. A.1.FRO
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
