Alberta's top court upholds convictions of man who killed 3 in Crowsnest Pass

The Alberta Court of Appeal has rejected Crowsnest Pass killer Derek Saretzky's appeal, meaning all three first-degree murder convictions will stand. 

In 2017, Saretzky was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the 2015 deaths of Hanne Meketech, 69, Terry Blanchette, 27, and his daughter, Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, 2.

Originally, Saretzky filed an appeal on all three convictions. But in February, defence lawyer Balfour Der appeared before the province's top court and asked the panel to substitute an acquittal in relation to Meketech, Saretzky's former neighbour in Coleman, who was found beaten and stabbed in her bedroom on Sept. 9, 2015.

Saretzky was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for at least 75 years. He is also appealing his sentence. After the conviction appeal has been dealt with, a date for sentence arguments can be set.

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In September 2015, the Crowsnest Pass area, with a population of less than 6,000, saw three gruesome murders take place in less than a week.

Five days after Meketech was killed, Blanchette's body was found in the bathroom of his Blairmore home. His daughter was missing.

Saretzky confessed to bludgeoning Blanchette with a crowbar and then slitting his throat before stealing the sleeping toddler from her crib upstairs and taking her to a campsite belonging to his relatives.

There, he told police, he killed the young girl, dismembered her body and performed acts of cannibalism before burning the remains. 

'Power imbalance'

It was six months after Saretzky was charged with Blanchette and Hailey's murders that he was questioned by RCMP about the Meketech killing. 

At the time of the RCMP interview, Saretzky had lost about a third of his body weight, attempted suicide and been in an induced coma for two days in hospital.

In his appeal, Der called the dynamic the "epitome of a power imbalance" in arguing his client's charter rights were violated when police didn't explicitly tell Saretzky he could call a lawyer. 

Prosecutor Christine Rideout argued Saretzky was never formally detained when he spoke with police about the Meketech murder, so police weren't obligated to advise him of his right to counsel. 

In its decision released Tuesday, the Court of Appeal agreed.

"The appellant was not under arrest and the trial judge found he had not been detained," stated the decision written by Justice Peter Martin on behalf of the three-judge panel.

"Those findings were well supported by the evidence and are entitled to deference."