'I hope you remember her beautiful face': Mother of murdered woman addresses killer in court
Michael Adenyi murdered fitness instructor Vanessa Ladouceur, 30, as she walked to work
For the first time since Vanessa Ladouceur was chased down by a stranger and fatally stabbed while walking to work, Erika Ladouceur addressed her daughter's killer.
"I hope you remember her beautiful face every time you see the scars on your hands," said Erika Ladouceur in a victim impact statement delivered during the sentencing hearing for Michael Adenyi.
"The fact that you, Michael, just butchered her and left her to die on the street like an animal is incomprehensible."
In April, jurors heard that Adenyi followed the 30-year-old as she walked to her downtown fitness instructor job along 10th Avenue early on Friday March 18, 2022.
Armed with a knife, Adenyi followed her for two blocks before he body-checked her into an alcove and stabbed her to death. He testified that he was having hallucinations at the time and believed he was attacking a creature in a kill-or-be-killed scenario when he stabbed Ladouceur.
Within hours, Adenyi ended up at Foothills Hospital looking for medical attention for cuts to his fingers and hands.
It was the same hospital where paramedics had taken Ladouceur.
At the end of the trial, Andeni was found guilty of first-degree murder as jurors rejected his lawyers' not criminally responsible (NCR) defence.
Everyone found guilty of first-degree murder is sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
For that reason, most of Thursday's sentencing hearing focused on the victim, not her killer.
Vanessa was 'deeply sensitive'
Erika Ladouceur told Justice Jane Sidnell that she raised her two daughters as a single mother, often working two jobs so that "they never went without."
"The three of us grew up together and went on great adventures," said Erika.
The family of three climbed mountains, camped, attended art galleries and the symphony.
Erika said her daughter read voraciously; about religion, politics, physics and poetry. She loved Maya Angelou, Nat King Cole, Etta James and memorized Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Erika and her girls volunteered at local homeless shelters.
"Vanessa became a deeply sensitive, loving and caring person," said her mother.
'Losing her is so profound'
The mother and daughter were "best friends" who texted back and forth "all day long."
"Losing her is so profound it is impossible to put into words," said Erika.
During the trial, jurors heard that after Ladouceur suffered eight stab wounds, a neighbour who heard her screams ran to his apartment window, saw the assault and yelled at Adenyi to stop, causing the killer to run away.
Ladouceur stumbled into a nearby lobby. The neighbour and another Good Samaritan tried to help but she was very badly injured and collapsed. By the time first responders arrived, she was unresponsive.
'Her beautiful blond hair was red'
Erika was brought to the trauma bay of the hospital to identify her daughter's body.
"I remember standing there not understanding why her beautiful blond hair was red, my brain could just not accept what I was seeing." said Erika, through tears.
"To make it worse, I was not allowed to touch her, because forensics was not finished with processing her body yet."
"The pain that I feel every day since then is immeasurable."
Vanessa's sister moved away after the homicide. Now that the court process is over, Erika says she will do the same.
"The memories are too painful. I cannot stay in Calgary without being reminded of her wherever I go in this city."
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