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Testimony begins in murder trial KATHY MICHAELS Black Press
Family and friends of slain Armstrong teen Taylor Van Diest breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday morning. As day two of Matthew Foerster’s murder trial got underway in a Kelowna courtroom, Crown Counsel Iain Currie submitted an agreed statement of defense to the court from lawyer Lisa Jean Helps. Foerster, 28, admitted that he caused the injuries that killed Taylor Van Diest. The jury will now Van Diest only have to decide on whether Foerster was capable of forming the intent for murder. Marie Van Diest said the admission wasn’t surprising, however, it was welcome. “This is good news for a lot of people,” she said to reporters gathered during the trial’s noon break. The trial continued on through the morning, and the jury heard testimony from RCMP Cpl. Trevor Cook, who specializes in forensic identification section. He was key to two aspects of the investigation, having recorded evidence from both where Van Diest was found Nov. 1, 2011 and a truck that was seized the following April. In a video that shows the calm rural atmosphere where Van Diest was found, Cook pointed to blood evidence collected as well as several items found around the scene. Spots of blood were found in the trees around where Van Diest lay as well as on the ground. In the F150, blood evidence was found behind the passenger seat of the car. On Monday the court heard the last text message Taylor Van Diest sent read, “I’m being crept.” Another partial message was waiting in her phone’s queue, but the Armstrong teen never finished it. Hours later her body was found face down in a ditch. She was still breathing, but a Kelowna jury heard Monday she wasn’t responsive as friends, family and emergency staff tended to her. Although there were signs of strangu-
KATHY MICHAELS/BLACK PRESS
Marie Van Diest talks with reporters outside the Kelowna Law Courts during a break in the opening days of the trial of the Cherryville man accused of killing her teenage daughter in Armstrong in 2011. lation, it was blows to the head that ultimately killed the 18-year-old Halloween night 2011. Insights into the teenager’s final moments came during the opening day of the first degree murder trial for Foerster, of Cherryville, who Crown Counsel alleged Monday has already expressed remorse for a sexual assault gone awry. In opening statements Crown Counsel Frank Caputo pointed to an interview with a Sgt. Davidson, which will be played for a jury some time in the next week-and-ahalf of testimony. “Matt, look me in the eye and tell me this: Do you feel bad for killing Taylor,” said Sgt. Davidson, during an interview recorded April 6, 2012. “Yes,” said Foerster. “You didn’t mean to… you went for sex and if she didn’t fight you you wouldn’t have killed her,” Sgt. Davidson said in the transcript.
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“Uh, yes,” said Foerster. In addition to Davidson, Caputo will call upon 15 other witnesses as Crown Counsel makes a case for first degree murder. Two of those witnesses took the stand on Monday morning. Const. Milan Ilic was working in Armstrong the night Van Diest was reported missing, and testified he got the call about a missing teen wearing a zombie costume that night. He drove by dozens of children and teens in costumes, scanning the crowd for Van Diest, before he parked near the railroad tracks that run through the city of Armstrong, close to the old cheese factory. Instantly he was greeted by three people. “A male knocked on the window, and asked if I was looking for Taylor,” Ilic said. The trio, who included two of Taylor’s friends and her mother, told Ilic they had been searching for the teen since her cell
phone was found by the railway tracks earlier, and she had failed to show up at the party where she’d been expected. The young man in the group, identified only as Clay in court, asked Const. Ilic for his flashlight, and was denied, as the police officer had to use it himself. Around that time Ilic was also informed that the police dog team that was going to be dispatched had been cancelled, he testified. All four then started down the railway tracks. “We walked 15 feet and four-to-five males were hollering and yelling, ‘are you looking for the missing girl?’” Ilic told the court. He learned they were the ones who had found Van Diest’s cell phone earlier that night, but as he started asking them more questions, he was distracted.
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