Nearly 60 pieces of evidence entered at trial of B.C. lawyer accused of murdering his client

An Exacto knife, a 12-inch blade, and a shovel were among the nearly 60 pieces of evidence submitted in a Kamloops, B.C., courtroom on Monday at the trial of a lawyer accused of killing his client.

Rogelio Bagabuyo is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2022 death of Mohd Abdullah, a Thompson Rivers University science professor.

Bagabuyo, 57, who goes by the nickname Butch, wore glasses and sat behind his lawyers in a B.C. Supreme Court courtroom. He took notes as Justice Kathleen Ker logged dozens of exhibits into evidence at the judge-alone trial.

The first exhibit entered was the rental documents for a Budget van in which the victim's remains were found. The van had been left in the Dufferin area of Kamloops.

Other evidence items included a large black storage tote bag, ropes, disposable lighters, cables and black garbage bags with holes cut out of them.

An index card with handwritten notes was also submitted as evidence containing information about a flight from Vancouver to New York City and the words "bag everything after," "don't bring phone and e-watch," "turn APPS off," and "turn location services off."

A stack of documents containing 28 pages of email exchanges between the victim and the accused, as well as the victim's will and power of attorney documents from 2016 — signed by both Abdullah and his then-lawyer Bagabuyo — were also submitted.

At one point, the court had to take a break to find more clear bags to contain the evidence.

Abdullah,  a  60-year-old computer science professor, was reported missing on March 14, 2022, when he did not show up for work at TRU.

Three days later, his body was found, and Bagabuyo was charged with interfering with human remains. 

Shortly after Abdullah's death, Abdullah's son-in-law told CBC News that Bagabuyo had been Abdullah's "trusted friend." Abdullah's daughter, Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco, said her father was a quiet and kind man.

More than a year later, in May 2023, Bagabuyo was charged with murder. He has been free on bail since July 2023.

Abdullah worked at the university for 21 years and played an important role in the Faculty of Science and Open Learning, according to a statement from the university in 2022.

The Crown is set to make opening arguments on Tuesday.