Andretti a 'very evil man,' says Winnipeg murder victim's cousin
Traigo Andretti, accused of killing and dismembering wife Myrna Letandre, laughed in court Monday
Myrna Letandre's family said they are disgusted the man accused of killing her was laughing during a court appearance.
"This guy looking at the family members and basically laughing at them as they broke down in court, so disrespectful," said Derrick Gould, one of Letandre’s cousins. "I can only define him as a very, very evil man."
Traigo Andretti, the 38-year-old accused of killing Letandre eight years ago, laughed in front of the victim's family as he tried to plead guilty to second-degree murder Monday.
"I was very upset to hear what happened in court, just mind-boggling," said Gould. "What goes through a person's head like his?"
Andretti is already serving a life-sentence for killing and dismembering his wife in British Columbia. He was charged in the Winnipeg murder while in jail in B.C., and was brought back to the Winnipeg in June this year to face charges of killing Myrna Letandre in 2006.
Letandre a 'quiet person'
Gould remembers Letandre as a "very nice ... quiet person."
"Myrna was a very, very nice person," said Gould. "She always greeted you with a smile and she always had great things to say — [made] everybody laugh around her."
Gould said the family has experienced a sense of closure in knowing what happened to Letandre, but they struggled for a long time with the uncertainty.
"It's unfortunate she went missing. We were wondering where she went," said Gould. "We were thinking she went west and just needed to call home and that call just never came."
Letandre was quiet and kept to herself in her younger years, said Gould.
"But once you got to know her she was a very beautiful girl."
Andretti has refused to meet with a lawyer several times and told the judge he wanted to plead guilty.
Andretti is scheduled to formally enter a guilty plea Sept. 10.