Left to die alone: Woman fatally struck by husband driving U-Haul in Calgary, judge told
Ronald John Candaele on trial for murder in death of wife, Melissa Rae Blommaert
One day after her birthday and two months after her wedding, Melissa Rae Blommaert was intentionally, fatally struck in Calgary by her husband, who was driving a U-Haul carrying everything she owned, according to prosecutor Hyatt Mograbee.
Ronald John Candaele's second-degree murder trial got underway Monday with Mograbee presenting an outline of the Crown's case in an opening statement to Court of Queen's Bench Justice Blair Nixon.
On Feb. 10, 2020, around 6 a.m., Blommaert, 33, was found lying on the road in the northwest community of Bowness.
Earlier in the morning, the couple had been driving around in the U-Haul after they'd been evicted from their subsidized housing unit.
Left to die alone
Security camera images from neighbourhood homes showed the U-Haul stop at around 4 a.m.
According to the prosecutor, Blommaert, who had been driving, got out and fled.
Candaele got behind the wheel and drove toward his wife "knowing full well she was on the road in front of him," said Mograbee.
The victim was dressed in black, in contrast to the snow-covered road illuminated by streetlights.
After she'd been struck, Candaele "callously drove away, leaving his wife to die alone," said Mograbee.
DNA found on U-Haul
David Samuelson, who lives on the same street, testified he woke up to a commotion in the middle of the night.
Samuelson said he heard a man shouting "f--k you," a car door slamming and the vehicle driving away.
In the morning, it was Samuelson and another neighbour who discovered Blommaert's body in the middle of the road, face down.
Crime scene photos introduced by Const. Aaron Bridge with CPS's traffic section showed a pair of eyeglasses and pools of blood stood out on the snowy street.
Police would eventually find Blommaert's DNA on the undercarriage of the U-Haul.
Defence lawyer Kim Ross is representing Candaele.
The trial is set for two weeks.