Accused killer said he did not murder pair
By Tim Petruk STAFF REPORTER tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
A man facing a pair of murder charges has no alternate theory as to how or why the bodies of two men, formerly his criminal associates, turned up in a shallow grave on his property. He only said he did not kill the men. Roy Fraser is facing one count each of first- and seconddegree murder in the deaths of Ken Yaretz Jr., 25, and Damien Marks, 31. The decision to have the 56-year-old take the stand on Monday, Dec. 9, came as a surprise. There had been no previous indication defence was considering calling him as a witness. Yaretz and Marks were last seen alive on April 17, 2009. Their bodies were found by police five weeks later, buried in a shallow grave on Fraser’s Knouff Lake property. Under questioning from defence lawyer Jordan Watt, Fraser said he and Yaretz had run a marijuana-grow operation on the property months before Yaretz and Marks disappeared.
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As Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod decides whether to support a bill aimed at rebalancing the power of MPs and their party leaders, she’s looking for input from what might not seem the most likely source: The riding’s cardcarrying members of the federal Liberals and NDP. The Reform Act, a private member’s bill introduced by Ontario Conservative MP Michael Chong, would give sitting MPs more power to depose a party leader and change what influence party brass have on local candidate selections. Among the proposals are some McLeod likes, such as having members of a party caucus vote THE REFORM ACT on whether or not to 2103 expel members for bad behaviour, rather than Read Michael Chong’s leaving the job to their Reform Act right now leader. by going online to: But, there are othreformact2013.ca/Theers she said she’s not Reform-Act-text.pdf. so sure about, such as a provision in which 15 Tell MP Cathy McLeod what per cent of a party’s sityou think by completing her ting MPs can trigger a survey. To get a copy, call review of their leader. 250-851-4991 or email “The most recent cathy.mcleod.c1@parl.gc.ca. example would be the Liberal government,” McLeod said. “They had over 100,000 people who had recently elected their leader and the way that this is written is 15 per cent of the current sitting Liberal MPs, which would be about five or six people, could trigger a vote by the current 32 people, who’d make the ultimate decision on replacing the leader.” Reform Act supporters have argued that because MPs can only select an interim leader, party members outside of Ottawa still get the final say over who leads the party.
Court has previously heard Yaretz was shot to death in the front entrance of Fraser’s home, while Marks was killed in or around his work van. Through its evidence, the Crown was unable to place Marks’ work van on Fraser’s property at the time of the incident. A DNA expert testified blood found in the floor joists beneath Fraser’s front entrance was that of Yaretz, while blood found inside Marks’ work van belonged to Marks. Both men were shot multiple times, including twice in the head. Marks had also been stabbed eight times. When police executed a search warrant at Fraser’s home on May 25, 2009, they found the flooring of the front-entrance area torn up and traces of blood in cracks around the door frame. Fraser said the flooring had been pulled up because of a leaky roof. Watt asked Fraser directly whether he had cleaned up any blood at his house, cleaned Marks’ van or driven the van back to Kamloops — where it was found days later, parked outside Marks’ old house.
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