Court hears from CO who discovered body of Loren Leslie

Pictured (left to right): Constable Kanwalprit Sidhu, Constable Aaron Kehler, and Conservation Officer Cameron Hill

The man who found the body of Loren Leslie testified at the Cody Legebokoff trial today.

Conservation Officer Cameron Hill spoke of his involvement in the November night that Legebokoff was arrested by police in 2010.

Hill said he was called to the scene off Highway 27 around 10:30pm, as officers were concerned they were dealing with a poaching incident.

After inspecting Legebokoff’s truck, he took a recorded statement from him, which was played for the court.

In the recording, Legebokoff is heard telling Hill that he was hunting deer with a friend, had shot one and dumped it elsewhere.

Hill can be heard saying he’s “having a really hard time believing” Legebokoff’s story, in which Legebokoff responded with “I’m telling you the truth, I’m telling you what happened”; and later saying “Like I said before I just want to go home”.

Hill described Legebokoff as quite unusual both physically and mentally – his demeanour was extremely casual, and he seemed bored during their conversation.

After the discussion, Hill went down the dirt road and followed tracks and footprints until he was lead to a gravel pit, where he said he then felt he was “onto something bigger than (he) originally thought”.

In a bush near the gravel pit was where he found a body, naked from the waist down with pants around the ankles – the body was later identified as 15 year old Loren Leslie.

At that moment Hill said he called RCMP Constable Aaron Kehler to say “It’s what you guys thought it was, worst case scenario”.

Photos of the scene and Leslie’s body were then shown to the jury.

Legebokoff is charged with first degree murder in the death of Loren Leslie, as well as Jill Stuchenko, Cytnhia Maas, and Natasha Lynn Montgomery.

The trial is now done for the week and will resume next week.