Confronted by a tag team of two RCMP officers as well as a tearful girlfriend, Cody Allan Legebokoff admitted to hitting Loren Donn Leslie "twice at the max" with a pipe wrench but maintained he did not kill the girl, the court heard Tuesday,
Legebokoff's statement was given in a video recorded interview he gave police two days after he was arrested for the murder of Loren Donn Leslie, a legally blind 15-year-old girl whose body was found in an isolated spot off Highway 27 between Vanderhoof and Fort St. James.
After first claiming he had stumbled across Leslie's body while out exploring the area, Legebokoff eventually admitted to police he knew the girl, saying they decided to meet in person after conversing through a social networking website for a couple of weeks.
Already planning to drive to Fort St. James to see his grandfather and mother, Legebokoff said he drove his pickup truck to Vanderhoof where he rendezvoused with Leslie at a school. He said they drank some of the alcohol he had bought, had sex, and then drove towards Fort St. James, where Leslie said she knew some people.
Along the way, they decided to take a detour, have sex once again, and go four-wheeling but that's where Leslie "went psycho," Legebokoff told a member of the B.C. RCMP's interview team as they sat in an interview room at the Vanderhoof RCMP detachment.
He said Leslie started going on about wanting to kill herself and that she hated her mother. It then escalated to Leslie hitting herself with a pipe wrench that had been sitting on the floor of his truck and stabbing herself in her neck, Legebokoff told police.
"I was like 'what the hell are you doing?'" Legebokoff said.
He said Leslie was soon out of the truck and down in the snow with stab wounds to her neck. Legebokoff said he was too stunned to give first aid, but did drag her about 15 feet before returning to his truck and taking off.
Legebokoff initially denied having sex with Leslie but changed that aspect of the story when told she was found with her shoes, pants and underwear off.
Matters reached a peak on the evening of Nov. 29, 2010 when Legebokoff's girlfriend at the time, Amy Voell, appeared at the detachment. With Sgt. Paul Dadwal looking on, the two gave each other a long embrace followed by Legebokoff telling her that he did not kill Leslie. Legebokoff continued to go over the story with a tearful and sobbing Voell while also asking for her forgiveness.
"I just want you to believe me," Legebokoff told her at one point.
In an apparent attempt at the good-cop, bad-cop ploy, Cpl. Greg Yanicki, also of the B.C. RCMP interview team, confronted Legebokoff at one point saying his story is ridiculous.
A pathologist had determined both sets of injuries Leslie suffered were fatal, Yanicki told Legebokoff. "You couldn't do both to yourself, you could do either one, but you couldn't do both," Yanicki said.
Later, Dadwal also began to press Legebokoff but also told him he thought he panicked and did something he normally would not have done.
"You're not a psycho, you're not a monster," Dadwal said. "She did something and you reacted."
Then, with Voell still in the room, Dadwal showed Legebokoff a photo of Leslie's dead body.
"That, Cody, is not you," Dadwal said.
Legebokoff continued to say he did not hit her with the wrench.
"You're not a bad guy, you had a good childhood, you're a normal person," Dadwal countered and urged Legebokoff to tell the truth.
Finally, Legebokoff said he hit Leslie once or twice while she was lying on the ground.
He then reluctantly agreed to give a summary of what he said happened while continuing to repeat he did not kill Leslie.
Legebokoff was also asked about Cynthia Frances Maas, 35 whose body was found in L.C. Gunn Park on Oct. 9, 2010, roughly seven weeks before his arrest. Legebokoff denied any knowledge of Maas when asked if he might have had sex with the woman.
Legebokoff is also accused of murder in the deaths of Jill Stacey Stuchenko, 35, and Natasha Lynn Montgomery, 23. Stuchenko's body was found Oct. 20, 2009 in a gravel pit off Foothills Boulevard and Montgomery went missing in September 2010 and has never been found.
