By Patrick Burles - Lethbridge News Now

Mother of Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette testifies in Saretzky triple murder trial

Jun 21, 2017 | 10:00 PM

LETHBRIDGE — Derek Saretzky glanced up as Cheyenne Dunbar entered the courtroom Wednesday morning before immediately casting his eyes down and away as she walked by him in the prisoner’s box.

The mother of two-year old Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette was there to testify in Saretzky’s triple murder trial.

Saretzky is accused of first degree murder in Hailey’s death, and for the murders of 27-year old Terry Blanchette and 69-year old Hanne Meketech. There’s also a charge of committing an indignity to a human body in relation to Hailey.

Cheyenne explained that she met Hailey’s father, Terry, in Calgary in January of 2011. They started dating a month later, and she moved to the Crowsnest Pass in May of that year, with the relationship continuing “on and off” from that point.

After moving briefly to Taber, where Hailey was born, Cheyenne returned to the Crowsnest Pass and moved in with Terry. It was at that time that she met Saretzky.

WHAT'S ON

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat and area: Dec. 20-22

Dec 21, 2024

IN THE COMMUNITY

Medicine Hat artist donates calendars for senior centre to raise money

Dec 17, 2024

WHAT'S ON

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat and area: Dec. 13-15

Dec 14, 2024

She testified that they became friends and would either hang out at Terry’s home in Blairmore or Saretzky’s mother’s house in Coleman, but that they never had a romantic relationship – something Saretzky had claimed in a statement he made to police, in which he also confessed to killing Terry and Hailey. Cheyenne noted that Hailey was there sometimes when they hung out.

Moving forward to 2015, Cheyenne said she was sharing custody of Hailey with Terry, with each having her for two weeks at a time. She acknowledged that Hailey had been staying with Terry longer than usual in September of 2015, as she was in the process of moving.

Following Cheyenne’s testimony, Cpl. Brian Fitzpatrick took the stand as the primary investigator for the Hanne Meketech murder investigation.

He explained that they were investigating Hanne’s death on Sept. 14, when he learned that there had been a second murder and that a child was missing.

“The first few hours were quite chaotic,” said Fitzpatrick of his time at the Blanchette crime scene, adding, “The Meketech investigation came to a complete stop… our priority was to find Hailey.”

After Saretzky’s arrest and the discovery of Hailey’s remains, they once again started looking into Hanne’s death, and his team even moved to the firehall so the two teams could investigate the crimes separately and give each other space.

On Sept. 15, Cpl. Fitzpatrick noted that Saretzky became a person of interest in Hanne’s murder. When asked for a reason by the Crown, he responded, “Simple, the blunt force trauma to Terry Blanchette and the stab wounds.”

The holdback information in Hanne’s case – which only a few police officers and the attacker would know – was that she sustained five blunt force injuries to her head, two stab wounds to her neck and a superficial cut, also to her neck.

It was then on Sept. 24 that Saretzky became a suspect, when another officer emailed Cpl. Fitzpatrick a photo of a list in Saretzky’s apartment. On that list, the words “Medicine Fresh” were written at the top, followed by several lines that had been crossed out, saying: “Hanne, sleepers for the dogs, Chy, Terry and The Hideous Baby.”

The Crown then asked about tests Cpl. Fitzpatrick requested from Hanne’s autopsy, including a sexual assault kit, which came back negative.

“It didn’t make any sense to me why this woman was murdered,” said Cpl. Fitzpatrick. “I thought it may have been sexually driven.”

He was also questioned about fingernail clippings taken from Hanne, to which he said that after talking to people who knew her, police discovered that she had a “fiery personality.”

“Hanne wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and I think she came out swinging,” Cpl. Fitzpatrick added.

From there, the Crown asked Cpl. Fitzpatrick if there had ever been any other persons of interest or suspects as part of his investigation. He acknowledged that two persons of interest were identified – one was Hanne’s ex-husband, and the other was an individual who had just been released from custody after serving time for aggravated assault – however, both were cleared following investigations.

DNA evidence was also presented on Wednesday, with RCMP forensic specialist, Janice Lyons testifying.

She stated that while several blood samples taken from Saretzky’s apartment were his, blood stains on a pair of cowboy boots in the residence were a match for Hailey’s DNA.

At the end of the day, Crown prosecutor Photini Papadatou, told the jury that she believed they were done presenting evidence, but that a legal matter would need to be taken care of before they could close their case.

It was decided that the matter will be handled on Thursday without the jury present, and the trial will proceed again Friday morning.