CALGARY | While moving his herd of cows, on February 17, 2002, an Alberta cowboy discovered the body of a murdered young woman in a ditch, partially covered with a singularly patterned sheet.
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That afternoon, Donald Lowe had to travel about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) on horseback, with his two sons, to transfer his cattle from one pasture to another, he said. yesterday at the Calgary courthouse.
The ranch owner of Nanton, a small town about an hour south of the metropolis nicknamed “Cowtown,” spotted a body in the distance in a ditch along Country Road 292.
The plains of Alberta are not covered in snow in February, so Mr. Lowe distinctly saw the young woman face down at the foot of a telephone pole.
Without even getting off his mount, the cowboy made sure that neither the beast nor his herd approached the body.
Riding on the highway
He then drove to the freeway, where he pulled over a car to borrow a cell phone and call 911.
Don Lowe was unaware of it then, but he had just found Adrienne McColl’s body. The 21-year-old was reportedly beaten and strangled three days earlier.
Illustration Mary Haasdyk
The accused, Stéphane Parent, who listens to the witnesses at his trial.
Her boyfriend at the time, Quebecer Stéphane Parent, is currently on trial for the unpremeditated murder of the young Albertan.
When the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrived at the scene, Sergeant Douglas Wattie noticed that a sheet partially covered the victim’s body.
However, earlier in the day yesterday, the jury of eight men and four women heard the testimony of the housekeeper of the victim’s father-in-law, John McGee.
Jody Shaw recounted cleaning the townhouse where Mr. McGee and Adrienne McColl resided on February 15, 2002. Among other tasks, she had to wash and make the beds.
Missing sheet
“In Adrienne’s room, there was only a fitted sheet and the pillow cases. No flat sheet. On one of the pillowcases there was very short dark hair, ”she described.
Courtesy photo
A sheet from Adrienne McColl’s bedroom.
However, the sheets of the young blonde had a very particular pattern including green and burgundy triangles, she continued.
Exactly the same pattern as the sheet used to cover his body, 150 kilometers away.
▶ The trial chaired by Judge Charlene S. Anderson will continue on Monday.
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