"We knew something very bad had happened": witness at murder trial
Credit to Author: Keith Fraser| Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2019 00:29:43 +0000
Warning: This story contains graphic content that may not be appropriate for all readers
A neighbour of a Vancouver senior accused of murdering two of the residents of their West End apartment building said Friday that she knew “something very bad had happened” when she stepped into the bedroom of one of the residents.
Susan MacDonald, a past-president of the co-op at the highrise known as Ocean Towers, was testifying at the trial of Leonard Landrick, 75, who has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the July 2017 killings of Sandra McInnes, 57, and Neil Croker, 51.
At the time they were fatally stabbed, McInnes had been a long-term resident of the building at 1835 Morton Ave., even serving on the co-op board. Croker was the building’s caretaker. Landrick was also a long-term resident who had a role in maintenance in the building.
Under questioning from Crown counsel Brian MacFarlane, MacDonald said that she was alerted that something was up when she got a distraught voice message from another resident saying that she hadn’t been able to get a hold of McInnes at her suite.
The two women tried to obtain a key for McInnes’ suite in the building’s key room but discovered it was missing. They went up to McInnes’ suite and knocked on her door, said MacDonald.
When they didn’t get an answer, they discovered that the door was open and decided to enter the 12th floor apartment, she told a B.C. Supreme Court jury.
The two women made their way down the hallway and when they got to the bedroom, they saw there was blood on the bed, said MacDonald.
“We knew something very bad had happened,” she said. “There was blood on the sheet and the pillow.”
MacDonald said that when she stepped around the bed, she saw McInnes on the floor in a fetal position. She said she called 911 and was told to try to resuscitate McInnes, but added she believed McInnes was dead.
The 911 operator told her to go over and touch McInnes and see if she was cold and had signs of rigor mortis.
“So I went over and touched her and she was very cold and blue and definitely dead. And that was when I saw a pool of blood beneath her. I thought there was a stab wound in her side. I said, ‘Oh my God, we need the police, I think she’s been murdered.’”
When police arrived, MacDonald said she met them and told them they should go to the building’s boardroom and check the security cameras.
She said she realized they needed Croker’s help for that, but could not get a hold of him and so led police to Croker’s apartment.
Again, knocks on the door went unanswered, and as she was following police into Crocker’s apartment, which also had an unlocked door, she said she heard them say, ‘Oh my God, what a struggle. He’s gone.’”
MacDonald testified that she knew “right away” that Landrick was involved and told police that they should go to the accused’s apartment immediately.
She described some dealings with Landrick the previous day in which the accused had yelled at her about things that he claimed that the two victims had done to him and warning her that “this is all going to come to a head tomorrow.”
MacDonald said Landrick had been claiming for several weeks that on one occasion, McInnes and Croker had spiked his drink and that Croker had raped him and that somebody was filming it and they were going to sell the video.
Earlier, Crown counsel Carla Risley told the jury during her opening that the Crown’s case was based on circumstantial evidence and DNA evidence implicating Landrick.
She said that by the end of the trial the Crown would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Landrick was guilty. The trial is to continue Monday.