TUESDAY
K A M L O O P S
THIS WEEK
Tuesday, November 26, 2013 X Volume 26 No. 94 www.kamloopsthisweek.com X 30 cents at Newsstands
Cindy Ross Friedman talks microtomes and mistletoe Page A6
An aerial shot of the search of Roy Fraser’s Knouff Lake property in May 2009 — a search that led to the bodies of Kenneth Yaretz Jr. and Damien Marks. Fraser is standing trial in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops, charged with killing both men.
Pot ‘root ball’ found in grave of slain men By Tim Petruk STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
In May 2009, police investigators found blood on this Bobcat on the Knouff Lake property owned by Roy Fraser. Fraser is charged with murdering Kenneth Yaretz Jr. and Damien Marks, whose bodies were found buried on the property weeks after they disappeared.
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A marijuana “root ball” — something commonly used in illegal grow operations — was found in a shallow grave alongside two Kamloops men who were killed in 2009, a jury has heard. Taking the stand in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops on Monday, Nov. 25 — the 10th day of Roy Fraser’s double-murder trial — was RCMP Cpl. Trent Johnson, the officer who, by hand, dug the bodies of Ken Yaretz Jr. and Damien Marks out of a shallow grave on Fraser’s property in Knouff Lake. Fraser, 56, is facing one count each of first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of Yaretz, 25, and Marks, 31. The two men were last seen alive on April 17, 2009, leaving Marks’ Brocklehurst residence and believed to have been going to Fraser’s property in Knouff Lake. Their bodies were found five weeks later while police were executing a search warrant. Once Johnson had excavated the bodies and had them removed from the five-foot-deep “pit,” he said, he sifted through the remaining dirt and found a root ball. Johnson said he was familiar with root balls — something he also referred to as “a starter sack” — from investigating marijuana-grow operations in the past. Court has previously heard Fraser has a history of running marijuana-grow operations — a fact he admitted to police in a videotaped interview played for the jury. In addition, defence lawyer Alexander Watt suggested through questioning that Yaretz was hoping to set up a grow-op with Fraser at a home near Barriere. Yaretz was an associate of the Independent Soldiers street gang and Jayme Russell, who was the leader of its Kamloops cell prior to being jailed in early 2009. The jury has heard Yaretz carried a handgun for protection, while Marks’ roommate also testified he once saw a loaded pistol on Marks’ dresser. In his opening statement to the 13-person jury, Crown prosecutor Tim Livingston said Fraser was upset with Yaretz for having borrowed a pickup truck which he failed to return. X See MURDER TRIAL A12
video-online] www.kamloopsthisweek.com
Go online to kamloopsthisweek.com to watch video of accused killer Roy Fraser being interviewed by police about the disappearance of Kenneth Yaretz Jr. and Damien Marks. Also online are many more evidence photos being used in the trial.
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