British Columbia

Proctor's teen killer clashed with mother

Secretly recorded conversations between Kruse Wellwood — one of the teens convicted of killing Kimberly Proctor near Victoria — and his mother reveal a difficult, sometimes abusive relationship.

Wellwood audio tapes

14 years ago
Duration 1:49
Kruse Wellwood can be heard blaming his mother for his killing of Kimberly Proctor in their B.C. home, the CBC's Lisa Johnson reports

Secretly recorded conversations between Kruse Wellwood — one of the teens convicted of killing Kimberly Proctor near Victoria — and his mother reveal a difficult, sometimes abusive relationship.

Police recorded the calls between Kruse Wellwood and his mother while Wellwood and co-accused Cameron Moffat were awaiting trial for the rape and murder of Proctor, 18, near Victoria.

The day after his arrest in March 2010, Wellwood called his mother, Nadine Wellwood, and tried to convince her to contact his girlfriend, despite a court order barring that contact.

When his mother refused, he unleashed a barrage of insults, calling her "an idiot" and "a loser."

Later, Nadine Wellwood asked him why he had no remorse or understanding of how his actions had hurt the Proctor family and his own.

Cameron Moffat, 18, left, and Kruse Wellwood, 17, right, pleaded guilty to the first degree murder of Kimberly Proctor. (CBC)

Wellwood told his mother he'd looked up empathy in the dictionary and that it was not his problem what other people thought of his actions.

Nadine Wellwood then wondered aloud whether her son inherited his psychopathic personality from his father, who is also in prison for murdering a teenaged girl.

"It's your fault. You gave birth to me," Wellwood said.

Mother felt unsafe

His mother then tells him she wouldn't take him back in her home if he were given bail because she wouldn't feel safe around him.

"You're an idiot," he repeated. "You accomplished nothing in your life."

If she weren't safe, she'd already be dead, Wellwood told her.

Wellwood, 17, and Moffat, 18, eventually pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Proctor, whom they admitted they lured to Wellwood's house, then raped, tortured and suffocated her before setting fire to her remains.

The pair were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.

Wellwood's father, Robert Dezwaan, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Cherish Oppenheim, 16, of Merritt, B.C., in 2001.

Authorities have released transcripts from dozens of conversations, including online chats between Wellwood and Moffat in which they were planning their attack on Proctor, as well as chats with Proctor setting up the rendezvous that would lead to her death.

With files from the CBC's Lisa Cordasco and Belle Puri