'She fought for her life': Closing arguments in trial for man accused of killing 2nd sex trade worker

Judy Maerz's dying fight for her life may have led police to her killer. 

Prosecutors argued on Friday that blood found near her body, which came back as a match to the man on trial for Maerz's murder, was left behind when Christopher Dunlop was injured as the 58-year-old woman fought back, desperate to stay alive. 

Maerz was attacked in the Deerfoot Athletic Park, suffering 79 stab and slash wounds on Feb. 16, 2023. Her body was then doused in gasoline and set on fire. 

Blood found in the snow near Maerz's butchered and burned body came back as a match to the man on trial for her murder. 

'She fought for her life'

On top of the fatal injuries, Maerz suffered defensive wounds. She also had male DNA under her fingernails. 

Prosecutors argue that blood was left behind as Maerz injured Dunlop when, desperate to stay alive, she tried to fight him off as he stabbed and slashed at the 58-year-old.

"Ms. Maerz fought for her life … she fought back," said prosecutor Greg Piper in his closing arguments on Friday.

Piper called the blood at the crime scene a "significant, reliable and weighty piece of evidence."

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At the time of her death, Maerz was working in Calgary's sex trade and Dunlop had finished serving a prison sentence for killing another sex trade worker 14 years earlier. 

Dunlop fatally strangled Laura Furlan in 2009. He was handed a 13-year sentence.

'Animus toward sex workers'

The Crown has argued Dunlop has a "clear animus toward sex workers" and in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2023, they say he "set out again to find somebody who wouldn't be missed."

On Friday, prosecutors Hyatt Mograbee and Piper pointed Court of King's Bench Justice Colin Feasby to what they say are the most important pieces of evidence which should lead to a first-degree murder conviction. 

Prosecutors asked the judge to look at CCTV footage from the day before and the hours after the killing. 

On the afternoon of Feb. 15, 2023, Dunlop can be seen purchasing items at the gas station. His hands show no injuries. 

On the afternoon of Feb. 16, 2023, Dunlop is shown on surveillance video reaching for the door at another gas station. He appears to be bleeding through a Band-Aid on his right index finger. 

"That's how the blood got onto the snow," said Piper. 

Maerz's purse in Dunlop's home

Police were quickly able to determine that the blood belonged to a male. From there, they put a rush on obtaining a full profile from the RCMP's Edmonton lab. Two weeks later it came back as a match to Dunlop.

Dunlop was arrested on March 1, 2023. At the time, police noted he had scratches on his arms and a healing cut to his finger. 

Other key evidence, according to Mograbee and Piper, is Maerz's purse, seized from Dunlop's home. 

It had been discovered on the morning of the killing by Dunlop's wife inside her vehicle which prosecutors allege he used to pick up his victim. 

'He cuts her throat'

Prosecutors said CCTV and cellphone tower evidence proves that Dunlop drove his orange Dodge Ram to his wife's workplace, swapped it with her parked orange RAV4 and headed to the Forest Lawn prostitution stroll. 

This is where he's alleged to have picked up Maerz around 2:45 a.m. 

At 3:03 a.m., headlights from a vehicle can be seen pulling into the Deerfoot Athletic Park parking lot. 

The vehicle remained in the parking lot for nine minutes. 

"As she is dying or already dead from a number of injuries to her chest, heart and lungs … he cuts her throat," said Piper. 

The medical examiner testified that he ran out of stickers to mark all of Maerz's injuries.

'Grotesque overkill'

Piper called the homicide a "grotesque overkill" and said there can be no doubt of the intent to kill. 

The vehicle left the parking lot at 3:12 a.m. The Crown said further CCTV footage shows the RAV4 heading back to the hospital where it parked. 

Prosecutors argue Dunlop got back into his orange truck and headed back to the park, arriving at 3:32 a.m.

During the two minutes the truck was at the park, another CCTV camera captured a large flash of light, which the Crown alleged is Dunlop dousing Maerz's body in gasoline and then setting it on fire.

In the next 11 minutes, surveillance video shows what the Crown alleged is Dunlop's orange truck driving away from Deerfoot Athletic Park, arriving in the area of his home on Eldorado Place N.E. 

Defence lawyer Allan Fay has not yet had his chance to make final arguments. That will likely take place on Monday.