'So shocking': Murder trial begins for man accused of killing 2nd sex worker in 14 years
Christopher Dunlop killed Laura Furlan in 2009. He's now on trial, accused of murdering Judy Maerz
It's been a decade since Kathryn Furlan sat alone in the gallery of a Calgary courtroom but she returned Wednesday to bear witness, as the man who killed her daughter goes on trial a second time, once again accused of murdering a vulnerable woman he'd just met.
"I feel I have to be here," said Furlan outside the courtroom.
Christopher Ward Dunlop, 50, is on trial for first-degree murder and indignity to a body, accused of sexually assaulting and killing Judy Maerz, 58, whose body was found in Deerfoot Athletic Park on the morning of Feb. 16, 2023.
Fourteen years earlier, Dunlop killed Laura Furlan and then dumped her body in Fish Creek Park. He finished serving his 13-year sentence for that homicide in 2022.
Both women were vulnerable, impoverished and worked in Calgary's sex trade at the time of their deaths.
On Wednesday, prosecutors Hyatt Mograbee and Greg Piper called Sgt. Dave Mills as their first witness.
'It was so shocking'
Mills was the first on scene after a woman discovered Maerz's body in the park. It was just inside the park near the entrance, out in the open.
She had been stabbed, "cut up," her throat was slit and her body had been severely burned, Mills described.
"It was so shocking," said Mills. "I had to walk up close. I knew it was real but a big part of me didn't want to believe it was real."
"It was just in such a horrific state."
Maerz suffered 79 stab wounds.
'A crime of domination'
In his opening statement to Justice Colin Feasby, Piper told the court that the Crown will present evidence that allows for two pathways to a first-degree murder conviction: that the killing was planned and deliberate and that it was committed in the course of a sexual assault.
Piper called the killing of Maerz "a crime of domination."
Before the trial got underway, prosecutors made a successful application where they will be allowed to compare similarities between the Furlan and Maerz killings.
As part of that application, the prosecution argued Dunlop has a "clear animus toward sex workers" and in 2023, "set out again to find somebody who wouldn't be missed."
'Someone who wouldn't be missed'
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."
On Feb. 16, 2023, prosecutors say Dunlop headed to a known prostitution stroll in Forest Lawn.
It's alleged he picked up Maerz, who was out on the streets alone. He took her to Deerfoot Athletic Park, according to the Crown.
Prosecutors say Dunlop killed Maerz while sexually assaulting her.
"He left and then returned to the scene shortly afterwards, burned her body with accelerant and went home," said Piper during his similar-fact arguments earlier this year.
Laura Furlan
On Aug. 29, 2009, Dunlop was bankrupt, angry and headed to a known prostitution stroll in southwest Calgary.
He met Furlan and agreed to pay her $100 for sex.
Furlan was 38 years old and working to overcome her addictions. She had recently lost her job as an administrative assistant. She was worried about paying her bills, according to her mother.
After having sex with Furlan, Dunlop strangled her and then dumped her naked body in Fish Creek Park.
Police later determined that Dunlop had searched online for "disposing a body using fire."
Three years after he killed her, Dunlop was arrested.
In October 2015, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and indignity to a body.
He was handed a 13-year sentence but, with credit for the time he'd spent in custody ahead of his trial, Dunlop had about six-and-a-half years left to serve.
'I'm representing my daughter'
In 2020, Dunlop was released from prison but was under conditions until June 2022.
A parole board report noted Dunlop "took full responsibility" and was committed to maintaining behavioural changes "to help with lowering your risk."
Kathryn Furlan says she attended Dunlop's parole hearing and delivered a victim impact statement.
She expressed disappointment but said she wasn't surprised to be back at court.
"I'm here because I'm representing my daughter, Laura Furlan, who was killed at the hands of Christopher Dunlop; this is a continuation of that as far as I'm concerned," she said.
"I'm here to advocate for the victim in this trial, and her family. Hopefully at the end of it all, justice will get served."
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