A file photo of the Aldergrove, B.C., home of Davey Butorac, who has been charged with multiple counts of murder.Rafal Gerszak
DNA, blood and other evidence linked to Davey Butorac's beloved car and shoes are key to the Crown's case that he murdered two prostitutes over a five-month period in 2007, the Crown has told Mr. Butorac's murder trial.
As Mr. Butorac looked on from the prisoner's box on Wednesday, Crown attorney Matthew Stacey laid out the prosecution case against the 31-year-old Aldergrove resident, who is accused of two counts of second-degree murder.
"The Crown's case is based on forensic evidence," Mr. Stacey told the jury of six men and six women in B.C. Supreme Court.
He said police found blood linked to 46-year-old Gwendolyn Jo Lawton in the trunk of Mr. Butorac's white Chevrolet Cavalier. Ms. Lawton's body was found down an embankment about three metres from a rural road in Abbotsford in March, 2007.
Police also found DNA from Sheryl Koroll, 50, in the vehicle's trunk and on the passenger side door, and on Mr. Butorac's shoes, the Crown said.
Mr. Stacey noted that tire tracks from Mr. Butorac's car matched a pattern found on Ms. Koroll's wrist after her remains were found in a Langley industrial park in July, 2007. Someone had driven a vehicle over her arm, Mr. Stacey said.
The Crown said Ms. Koroll's blood was found on Mr. Butorac's shoes, which matched shoe sole patterns found at one of the crime scenes. The Crown said that these were the only shoes the defendant wore.
Surveillance video shows a vehicle matching Mr. Butorac's departing the area where Ms. Koroll's remains were found, Mr. Stacey said.
The Crown described both victims as prostitutes.
Mr. Butorac's father, Frank, is among the witnesses set to testify about Mr. Butorac's affection for his car, Mr. Stacey said.
The Crown told the court that Mr. Butorac, 31, did not lend the vehicle to anyone - a point he said Mr. Butorac's father would confirm.
An undercover police officer who posed as an inmate and shared a cell with Mr. Butorac after his arrest in January, 2008, will also testify about comments from Mr. Butorac that he did not lend his car out, said the Crown.
Other witnesses will include Ms. Lawton's son, who last saw his mother going out at 1 a.m. the day before her body was found. Ms. Lawton's son will testify about his mother's clothing.
After the opening statement, the jury heard testimony from RCMP Corporal Karen Verbeek, a member of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, who was among the officers on the scene after Ms. Lawton's body was found and attended her autopsy.
No cause of death for either of the victims was disclosed in yesterday's testimony.
However, Cpl. Verbeek described heavy bruising on Ms. Lawton's jaw line when her body was found.
Members of the jury were led through a booklet of crime-scene photos that included shots of Ms. Lawton's body.
The jury was shown a crime-scene video on a wide-screen TV positioned so they could easily view it. The images were not easily visible to spectators in the public gallery, who peered at them as they were shown on monitors for the lawyers and for Mr. Butorac.
Mr. Butorac has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Richard Fowler, did not make an opening statement.