Alexander Lawrence LaGlace killed his girlfriend Tammy-Lynn Cordone by stabbing her 18 times in a violent burst of anger, Crown prosecutor Nicole Gregoire told a B.C. Supreme Court justice Monday.
Gregoire made the remarks as part of her opening statement in the trial of LaGlace, who is accused of second-degree murder in Cordones death.
Cordones body was discovered inside a tent where she had been living with LaGlace in West Vancouvers Lighthouse Park on May 19, 2009.
An autopsy revealed she had been stabbed 18 times in the chest.
It was LaGlace himself who called 9-1-1 in the early morning hours after her death, said Gregoire, telling the operator he had arrived back at their tent late to find someone had killed her.
LaGlace became a suspect early in the investigation, but police were unsuccessful in getting him to confess until they launched an undercover sting operation nine months later.
In March of 2010, LaGlace told an undercover police officer that he had killed Cordone by stabbing her in the chest 10 or 15 times, said Gregoire.
LaGlace told the undercover officer Cordone was awake at the time but totally pissed out of her mind. Afterwards, he went to sleep and when he woke up she was totally bled out, LaGlace told the undercover officer.
He thought of using his axe to cut her up and throw her in the ocean, but he decided not to, said Gregoire.
LaGlace said he buried the knife in the bush on native land behind Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver, said Gregoire.
LaGlace told the undercover officer he had never spoken about the killing to anyone else before.
Gregoire said days before, LaGlace had told the undercover officer, I just want to kill someone again, and I want to be ill again. Im a killer.
But he quickly backed off the conversation, telling the undercover officer, Just kidding. I like messing with peoples minds, said Gregoire.
Gregoire said LaGlace frequently referred to there being a spirit world in his conversations with the undercover officer.
Police who first arrived at the Lighthouse Park campsite that day found Cordones body lying in the tent. There were no signs of a struggle and no weapon was found at the scene, said Gregoire.
LaGlace was initially brought back to the detachment as a grieving husband said Gregoire, but soon became a suspect and was arrested.
At the time of his arrest, LaGlace was wearing six layers of clothing and there was blood found on all the layers, said Gregoire. She said all of the blood on LaGlaces clothing matched that of Cordone. The amount of blood couldnt be explained by LaGlace simply turning over Cordones body, said Gregoire.
After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a confession, LaGlace was released after 24 hours.
Gregoire said it is the Crowns theory that after LaGlace killed Cordone, he put her belongings and the murder weapon in a black bag and boarded a bus into West Vancouver, where he buried the knife in a bushy area behind the shopping centre. LaGlace then went into Vancouver, returning to the park campsite much later that night. He stayed with Cordones body for several hours before calling 9-1-1 around 3 a.m., said Gregoire.
Cordone, 43, had lived a troubled life and suffered from substance abuse at the time of her death, said Gregoire. Toxicology reports showed her blood alcohol levels were close to .18 at the time of her death.
LaGlaces defence lawyer Paul McMurray told Justice Terrence Schultes his arguments will centre on the reliability of the alleged confession made by Mr. LaGlace to the undercover operator in light of LaGlaces particular frailty and the lack of significant corroborating evidence.
Gregoire said LaGlace and Cordone were homeless and had been seen camping out in other places in West Vancouver prior to setting up in Lighthouse Park.
The first witnesses in the trial Monday including a West Vancouver firehall captain and a West Vancouver bus driver described seeing a couple they identified as LaGlace and a woman camping out near the park and getting off the bus there in the weeks prior to the killing.
The trial continues.
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