Verdict expected for Calgary man accused of killing 2nd sex trade worker
Christopher Dunlop killed Laura Furlan in 2009. He's now on trial, accused of murdering Judy Maerz
A verdict is expected today for a Calgary man accused of murdering a sex trade worker, 16 years after he killed another woman who worked in the city as a prostitute.
Christopher Dunlop, 50, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Judy Maerz, 58, whose body was found butchered and burned in the Deerfoot Athletic Park in February 2023.
On Monday, Court of King's Bench Justice Colin Feasby will release his decision after presiding over a three-week trial last month.
The verdict will come 16 years after Dunlop killed Laura Furlan — who was also working in the city's sex trade at the time — after he picked her up from a known sex stroll in Calgary.
'Someone who wouldn't be missed'
He took Furlan to the Deerfoot Athletic Park, fatally strangled her and then dumped her body 20 kilometres away at Fish Creek Park.
Police later determined that Dunlop had searched online for "disposing a body using fire."
Before the trial began, Feasby ruled that prosecutors Hyatt Mograbee and Greg Piper were allowed to argue that the similarities between the Furlan and Maerz homicides bolstered its case against Dunlop.
After he strangled Furlan in 2009, Dunlop told undercover officers that he'd set out the night of the killing "looking for someone who wouldn't be missed," someone he could "f–k up."
Prosecutors argued in the Maerz case that Dunlop "set out once again to find somebody who wouldn't be missed."
In the Fuland case, Dunlop pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served a 13-year sentence.
In the Maerz homicide, prosecutors are seeking a conviction for first-degree murder and have argued the evidence allows for two pathways to get there. The Crown says it has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing was planned and deliberate and that it was committed in the course of a sexual assault.
On the morning of Feb. 16, 2023, Maerz's body was found in the park; her pants were pulled down and she had suffered 79 stab and slash wounds before her body had been set on fire.
Maerz "fought for her life," prosecutors said, pointing to defensive wounds on her body. In the course of that fight, the Crown argued Maerz's attacker was injured, leaving blood behind in the snow.
DNA evidence
Some of the key evidence in the Crown's case comes from that blood found at the crime scene near Maerz's body which came back a match to Dunlop.
Two weeks after Maerz was killed, police attended Dunlop's home to execute an arrest and search warrant. That's when officers discovered Maerz's purse in Dunlop's garage.
The Crown also presented video evidence that it says tracks Dunlop to his wife's workplace where he swapped vehicles, onto the Forest Lawn area where it's alleged he picked up Maerz and then to the athletic park. The video, argued prosecutors, then tracks Dunlop in his wife's SUV back to her workplace.
Prosecutors say CCTV video then shows Dunlop getting back into his truck and returning to the crime scene, just long enough to set a body on fire.
Defence lawyer Allan Fay did not call any witnesses but argued that investigators made evidence "fit their theory instead of looking at evidence and forming a theory from it."
He told Justice Feasby that none of the video evidence shows Dunlop and Maerz together.
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