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When she met her future mother-in-law at the age of five, Pamela Bradley recalled thinking she was like Barbie, right down to the pink car.
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“My mother’s blue Honda could never compare to Doreen’s pink Cadillac,” he said in an Edmonton court on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, family and friends of Doreen Bradley relived the trauma of her loss as the man convicted of murder seeks an opportunity for early release.
Bradley was found dead in her rural home outside Bonnyville on July 15, 2002. After months without a lead, police arrested Landon Karas, 21, following a DNA “trawl” that collected information. genetics of 58 men from the area.
In 2005, a jury convicted Karas of first degree murder and sexual assault. A judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole for 25 years.
Karas, now 40, began a “weak hope” hearing before a 14-year-old jury last week. If successful, jurors could choose to advance their parole eligibility date, which currently begins with daily probation in 2024. Karas continues to maintain his innocence.
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Bradley, 58, owned the A&W restaurant in Bonnyville. She was a pillar of the community, a member of the Lions Club who loved flowers, bingo, yard sales, and gifts.
An employee discovered Bradley’s body at her home near the village of Iron River after she failed to show up for work. She had been strangled, stabbed at least 30 times and was partially naked. The murder weapon was never found.
Police were able to obtain male DNA from semen found on Bradley’s body, but could not identify a suspect for months. Finally, they asked the men in the community to provide voluntary DNA samples. Landon Karas’ father, Fred, provided a sample indicating a degree of separation from unidentified male DNA. Subsequently, the police searched for samples from Karas’ children. Landon was a party.
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The RCMP arrested Landon on October 18, 2002. He has been in custody ever since.
Karas has appealed his conviction several times, arguing the evidence against him was “so weak” that the verdict was unreasonable. Alberta Court of Appeal fired his appeal, while the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the case.
Karas spent the entire day Monday on the witness stand, testifying about the progress he made while in prison. Jurors have also heard from members of Karas’s family and the correctional service staff who worked with him.
Karas did not explain why she thinks he is innocent. However, Alexandra Seaman, her attorney, revealed that Karas was found to be infertile as a result of cystic fibrosis, meaning that her semen does not contain genetic material.
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Karas took responsibility for his bad behavior and bad reputation in the community at the time of the murder.
“I was doing a lot of things in my life that were wrong and that brought me to this point,” he said. “I am responsible for having been in jail for 20 years. I became an easy target in that community when a violent event occurred. “
Jurors heard from several of Bradley’s loved ones Tuesday. Some spoke in person or by video. Some of his statements date from Karas’s sentencing hearing in 2005 and were read from the record by prosecutor John Watson.
Pamela Bradley was visibly shocked as she read her statement, stopping regularly to compose herself. He said his life feels like an “endless horror movie.”
“Another family goes to bed with high hopes of having their relative at home,” he said, referring to the weak hope audience. “I am aware and I feel sorry for this reality.” He said he did not want to “throw darkness” on the hopes of the Karas family, but rather “take a look at our lives.”
Corrie Sikora, Doreen Bradley’s daughter, described her as “my mother, my confidant, and my friend.” She spoke of visiting her mother’s parents’ grave during a family reunion in 2002. She recalled saying how she missed her own mother every day.
Two months later, Doreen was buried in the same cemetery.
“The only consolation is that the person who killed our mother and discarded her body will pay for this crime for the rest of his life,” Sikora said.
Karas’s weak audience is expected to end this week.
Reference-edmontonjournal.com