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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 Four of coverage by this site.

March 19th, 2008
One woman testifies about a white pickup seen in the area where Quinney's body was later found while another woman said Svekla invited her to see a dead body.
March 20th, 2008
Entomologist estimates time of death.
March 21st, 2008
Interrogation tapes released.
March 25th, 2008
Police jail cell plant testifies.
March 26th, 2008
Couple who helped Svekla move body take the stand.

March 19th, 2008

Week Five of the trial of Thomas Svekla trial began with a parade of Crown witnesses, the most notable being a woman who said she saw a white pickup truck parked near the stand of trees where police later found Rachel Quinney's body.

Court also heard from a former drug dealer who Svekla also counted as a friend, and three RCMP officers involved with handling Theresa Innes' body after it was discovered in the garage of Svekla's sister, Donna Parkinson.

Cari-Lynn Rempel testified she observed a white- or silver-coloured truck parked in a field in Strathcona Country on May 17th or May 24th, 2004. Svekla told police he came upon Quinney's body on June 11th.

Rempel told the court she was in her ensuite bathroom when she saw the truck. It stayed in the field for about five or 10 minutes, she said, and then it backed out and drove away.

"I didn't recognise the vehicle and that's why I noticed it," Rempel said.

Earlier testimony had indicated that Svekla drove a white pickup truck in the spring of 2004.

Carla Weldon (pictured above outside court) took the stand and testified she sold crack to Thomas Svekla and that the man often told her he was in love with her.

Svekla also told her he wanted to take her on a drive to Sherwood Park – something he frequently suggested.

"He kept bringing it up. I wasn't really paying attention. He was like, have you ever seen the colour of a dead body? It was kind of morbid," Weldon said.

RCMP Const. Sonia Joyal testified she spoke with Svekla's sister, Donna Parkinson, dozens of times during the course of the investigation.

It was Parkinson who called police in May 2006 when she found what she believed to be a body in a hockey bag Thomas brought with him from High Level. The officer said she tried to help Parkinson get in touch with victim's services.

"I felt like she needed some support," Joyal said. "I felt like she had been ostracized by her family, abandoned by her family."

Const. Steve McQueen was questioned about his examination of Theresa Innes' body.

"It felt cold to the touch," McQueen testified.

"At that point, I noticed what appeared to be a bent human leg. To me it smelled like the odour of blood."

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March 20th, 2008

A forensic expert testified Rachel Quinney could have been dead for at least a week before being found.

Dr. Gail Anderson, a forensic entomologist and associate professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, testified that based on weather conditions and evidence collected by police Quinney could have been dead between nine and-a-half and twelve days by June 11th, 2004.

Anderson told the court the development of maggot infestation in a dead body is dependent on weather, vegetation present, soil type and whether the body has exposed wounds.

The entomologist examined weather records for Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan in late May and June 2004, and calculated Quinney may have died as early as May 28th.

Under cross-examination, the forensic expert conceded the level of cocaine found in Quinney's body could have sped up insect development – shortening the time between death and discovery.

"Insects are the first witnesses to a crime," Anderson told reporters outside court. "In my opinion, she was dead on or before the 3rd or 4th of June."

In March 2001 Anderson was named one of six leading international innovators in the field of crime and punishment by TIME Magazine.

Court also heard testimony from Norma Shamut who was "100 per cent" certain she saw Quinney alive on June 6th – five days before her body was found and several days after Dr. Anderson's estimated time of death.

The former eight-year veteran of the street was delivering bread for the Mormon church when she saw Rachel on 118th Avenue.

That's what has bothered me most, Cahmut said, how young she looked and how messed up she looked.

Chamut said Quinney looked sleep deprived and twitchy, and using the language of the streets, she said the young girl was "tweaking."

She told the court she saw Quinney's picture in the newspaper along with a story about her death about a week later.

"Her death rocked me right to my core," Chamut said. "Maybe if we had stopped and talked to her we wouldn't be here today."

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March 21st, 2008

Videotapes showing the police interrogation of Thomas Svekla were released to media.

The tapes had earlier been played in a voir dire – a trial within a trial – at Svekla's preliminary hearing to determine their admissibility as evidence.

It was decided only some portions of the interrogation would be entered into the trial as Justice Sterling Sanderman ruled some of Svekla's Charter rights were violated as the result of the questioning.

A publication ban was put into effect during the preliminary hearing held in early 2007. The ban was challenged by some media outlets and the tapes were released » full details »

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March 25th, 2008

The trial of Thomas Svekla resumed after the Easter break with testimony from an undercover officer who shared a cell with the man accused of murdering two Edmonton-area prostitutes. The officer was not named due to a publication ban to protect his identity.

Generic Revox B77 reel to reel tape recorder image

Court heard recordings of a conversation Svekla had with the RCMP officer in a High Level jail on June 1st, 2006. Just three weeks prior Svekla had been charged with the murder of Theresa Innes.

Sparking the conversation with the RCMP plant was fellow inmate Justin Delorme's remark that Svekla was going to spend his whole life in jail and will die behind bars. The comment was made while he was walking past Svekla's cell.

Svekla taunted back by calling the prisoner a "rat bitch," explaining to the Mountie that Delorme was a drug dealer he had dealings with.

Delorme had earlier testified that Svekla had told him a scary story about killing a prostitute in Strathcona and taking another girl to the same spot to kill her as well. Police interviewed Delorme two weeks after Svekla told him the "scary story."

Svekla told the undercover officer he feared that Delorme would go to authorities. He had previously told Delorme: "The only way I'll get convicted of this is if you rat me out."

"He might take some shit to the cops that I confessed to him or something," the plant told court, quoting Svekla.

"I remember telling the story about that girl I found in the bush. Now he's trying to turn it around, saying I confessed to him," the officer related the accused man as saying.

Svekla also came up with another version of the story of how he found Innes' body in a hockey bag in the back of his pickup truck when it was parked behind the Fountain Tire outlet in High Level.

"I opened the fucking bag and here there is a leg. So I zipper it back up. It stunk a little bit. And it was still fresh. It wasn't there that long."

Svekla said he zipped the bag closed and tossed it in the back of the pickup. "So I decided to take it with me. Figured I'd get rid of it somewhere else."

Svekla told the undercover officer that police had offered him a deal. He said he refused the saw-off because he wasn't guilty.

"So I don't know what people said about me, but I know I didn't do it," he said. "Just because there's a bitch in a bag doesn't mean I killed her."

Svekla told the officer he had asked an inmate getting of jail to assure his girlfriend that he was innocent.

The man was also heard on the recordings repeatedly expressing his faith in a higher power.

"Hopefully God will take care of me. If not, I'll do time I guess."

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March 26th, 2008

The couple who unknowingly helped Thomas Svekla transport Theresa Innes' body in their truck took the stand.

An auto-parts driver for Kentwood Ford, Les Nalesnik worked for Svekla's brother-in-law. He did his boss a favour by driving Svekla from High Level back to Fort Saskatchewan on May 6th, 2006 after he made some deliveries to the northern Alberta town. Les brought his wife Alice along for the long ride.

After they stopped by Svekla's home for a few items, the accused man dragged a six-foot hockey bag out of a pickup truck parked behind Fountain Tire.

Svekla then placed the bag into Les' truck. Les couldn't help Svekla with the obviously heavy bag because of a bad back. Svekla told Les the bag contained compost worms that he could sell for a dollar each.

Alice said the bag looked heavy enough to have a body inside. When she asked to see the worms, Svekla said: "Well no, you can't, because they have to be airtight."

He also said he was planning on using the worms in his mother's garden.

Les said Alice did most of the talking on the 700 kilometer journey back to Fort Saskatchewan.

"I was probably snoozing off and on. The wife was driving. I could hear the conversation back and forth. She's a better conversationalist than I am."

When Alice commented on the amount of roadkill they encountered near Whitecourt, Svekla told the couple of finding Quinney's body.

"I said: 'Boy, those crows sure eat well, they have steak in the morning and ribs at night,' " Alice testified. "He said: 'Speaking of ribs, I've got a story. Do you know Rachel Quinney?' "

The woman said Svekla seemed excited and his eyes lit up when he told her about finding the body.

"He was telling me that the body was fresh, and it was clean, it was washed, and her ribs were blue," she said.

"He said that the body was placed among trees that were not broken or twisted," Alice said. Svekla told her that it must have taken two men to move her because "she would have to be placed carefully."

Svekla also mentioned the police were "trying to pin it on him."

The woman also told the court that Svekla told her he knew a girl named Terri.

"She was a friend of his," she said. "He just talked off and on about her."

"The only thing he said about her is that she had two children that were being taken care of by her mother and that she was drug-addicted and she did a lot of street walking. He wanted to help her."

Court also heard from George Braun, Svekla's boss when he worked as a mechanic in High Level.

Braun testified Svekla had easy access to mechanic's wire and orange garbage bags. The man said the bags were used by the janitors who cleaned the building.

Outside court, Alice and Les Nalesnik met up with a reporter from CBC Edmonton and recounted their reaction to having found out they helped Thomas Svekla transport Theresa Innes' body.

As she was during the trip back from High Level, Alice was the talkative one.

"And on the six o'clock news this came on and said Thomas Svekla has been charged for indignity to a body and transporting from High Level.

"We just looked at each other ... what?"

"The beauty of it was when he dropped that bag I said to him – he was standing outside – I said 'You know, Les, that bag looks heavy enough to have a body in it.'

"Little did I know – I really said that."

The trial continued March 31st, 2008.

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