'I love her to death': Accused double murderer denies killing mother, during police interview

Emanuel Kahsai denied murdering his mother and her disabled housemate but refused to explain where he was the day they were killed in a recorded police interview played for jurors on Thursday.

"I didn't hate my mom," Kahsai told the detective. "I love her to death."

Kahsai, 32, is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Selma Alem, 54, and second-degree murder in the death of Julie Tran, a young mentally disabled woman who was cared for by Alem.

For the second day in a row, jurors watched a video of the interview between Kahsai and police. The interrogation by detectives Dave Sweet and Lee Treit took place on Oct. 20, 2015 — hours after he was arrested in Edmonton for the two murders that were believed to have been committed three days earlier on the Saturday. 

• Accused double murderer's rambling disruptions contrast sharply with articulate interview with police

"This woman did not deserve…," the detective started to say about Alem before Kahsai cut in: "What she got."

"And neither did Julie," Treit added.

Then under his breath, Kahsai whispered, "neither did I."

Jurors have already heard that Alem feared for her safety around her son, who had threatened to kill her. She had sought a restraining order against him through the courts.

Treit suggests Kahsai never came to terms with the murder of his brother, who had been killed 10 years earlier, and that the death of his mother and her roommate "has a lot to do with that."

"I wouldn't doubt it," said Kahsai.

The accused killer's interactions and conversations with the two detectives are a far cry from his outbursts in court. Since the trial began 2½ weeks ago, Kahsai has had to be housed in a separate courtroom with his microphone muted because of his outbursts. 

Every time Kahsai — who is representing himself — has been unmuted, he has grunted and shouted at jurors to call the FBI and U.S. Army and about "brain control." When given the chance to cross-examine two different witnesses, he made extremely vulgar comments about his mother's private areas. 

Defence lawyer Mark Takada has been appointed as a "friend of the court" so that he can ask cross-examination questions of some of the witnesses. 

Early on in the trial, jurors asked if Kahsai had been forensically assessed and were told by Justice Glen Poelman that the accused had been found mentally fit by a doctor.

'It wouldn't have happened'

Over and over, Kahsai says he can't remember why his mother's vehicle ended up in Edmonton, blocks away from where he was arrested with both victims' blood on his shoes. Tran's blood was inside the pocket of Kahsai's jeans, and Alem's DNA was found on the floor mat of the SUV. 

Treit also asks what Kahsai was doing on the Saturday when Alem and Tran are believed to have been killed. Kahsai says he "can't recall."

The senior detective brings Kahsai back to the topic of his dead brother: "What would your brother be doing right now if he was alive and knew this happened?"

"It wouldn't have happened," Kahsai responds.

Treit asks why the suspected killer thinks that.

"Ah, I don't know, I think maybe we would've been a tighter-knit family."