Holly hamiltonThe frozen body was found in the trunk of his work vehicle, abandoned in a Hamilton parking lot. The 29-year-old single mother had been stabbed 17 times, including a fatal wound to the neck. It was covered in bruises and cuts.
The tragic discovery on January 17, 2018, came two days after concerned friends and family reported Holly’s disappearance.
After not returning home on the night of January 14, Holly’s daughter, then four years old, showed up at her grandmother Angela’s door the next day with a new coat and toys. Angela watched Holly’s on-and-off boyfriend Justin Dumpfrey walk away, Assistant Crown Attorney Amber Lepchuk said Tuesday at the opening of Dumpfrey’s murder trial.
“Where is Holly?” Angela screamed, according to Lepchuk.
“I don’t know,” he supposedly replied.
Holly’s daughter, whose identity is protected by a posting ban, told her family that she saw Mom “sleeping” in the shower at her dad’s apartment, the court heard. She told her mommy that she loved her, but mommy didn’t respond.
Dumpfrey is charged with second degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
“This is a domestic violence case,” Lepchuk told the jury.
Holly and Dumpfrey’s relationship was volatile. She told family and friends that he was obsessive, she said. But he also wanted his daughter to have a relationship with her father.
According to an agreed statement of fact, read by Lepchuk, Dumpfrey was twice convicted of assaulting Holly. Once when she was three months pregnant and once in front of her little daughter.
The November before his murder, he reported a break-in at his townhouse that he suspected was Dumpfrey. But the case was never resolved, the court heard.
At the time of her murder, Holly was living with her daughter and sister Stacie Hamilton. On January 14, Dumpfrey was repeatedly texting, trying to get Holly to come over, saying he was sick and wanted to see his daughter, Lepchuk said.
Later, Holly told Stacie that she was going to see a friend and that she and her daughter would be back at 8pm. But the next morning, Stacie discovered that her sister and niece had not returned.
No one could get in touch with Holly. She had never been to see her friend. Holly and her daughter were reported missing.
That night, Holly’s daughter appeared at her grandmother’s door.
Police would later find Holly’s blood and evidence of blood cleansing inside Dumpfrey’s apartment, Lepchuk said.
In a garbage bag outside her apartment building, police found Holly’s work vehicle keys with Holly’s blood on them. Her daughter’s bleach-stained jacket was also found in the trash, along with other evidence.
Surveillance video shows Dumpfrey shopping for bleach, garbage bags and other items on Nov. 15, with his daughter, Lepchuk said. Police found receipts for these items, including a new shower curtain and a bath mat in his apartment. Another video shows him buying his daughter a new pink coat and toys at Walmart, before she was dropped off at her grandmother’s house.
Friends and family say that Holly would never have allowed her daughter to be alone with Dumpfrey.
The trial continues.
Nicole O’Reilly is a Hamilton reporter covering crime and justice for The Spectator. Contact her by email: [email protected]
Reference-www.thestar.com