The Crown prosecutor has told the jury in the Jason Steadman first-degree murder trial the case she built over the past five weeks proves Steadman committed the planned and deliberate murder of Dwayne Demkiw in May 2015.
Crown prosecutor Chantelle Washenfelder called it “the only logical theory which accounts for all of the evidence.”
But Demkiw’s defence argues the Crown’s case is largely circumstantial and poses more questions than answers.
Demkiw was last seen alive early in the morning on May 31, 2015, at Revolution Entertainment in west Edmonton. The 42-year-old part-time limousine driver was cleaning up a limo after driving for a bachelor party earlier that night.
Jason Steadman is on trial for first-degree murder in the 2015 death of Dwayne Demkiw (Court exhibit)
Hours later, Demkiw’s personal vehicle was set on fire in a Calgary parkade. His scattered remains were discovered almost a year later in a wooded area near Innisfail, approximately 200 kilometres from where Demkiw was last seen alive.
Washenfelder believes she’s proven Steadman’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But she admitted there are still unanswered questions.
“No one could have seen this coming,” she said. “No one can explain why the accused would commit such a horrific act. It doesn’t make sense.”
Over more than two hours, Washenfelder presented the jury with a thorough summary of the evidence, using a PowerPoint presentation.
The defence called no evidence.
When it was the defence’s turn to present closing submissions, Darin Sprake told the jury, “This is a case where the Crown has called some 92 witnesses and has tendered about 100 exhibits.”
But he called it a circumstantial case that he believes failed to establish Steadman’s guilt.
“Despite the incredible volume of witnesses, exhibits, the Crown has not offered you proof beyond a reasonable doubt on the points that are absolutely essential in order for you to find Mr. Steadman guilty,” he said.
Video and DNA evidence
Surveillance video showed Demkiw cleaning a vehicle in the Revolution Entertainment limousine bay until almost 4 a.m. on May 31 and then walking out the door — presumably to his car waiting in the parking lot.
A motion-activated video from an adjacent business was entered as evidence at the trial.
It shows a man walking around the parking lot behind Revolution Entertainment, then climbing inside a dumpster close to the bay door at 11:13 p.m. on May 30.
The Crown suggested it was Steadman who climbed into the dumpster.
The Crown alleges Steadman hid for hours in this dumpster behind Revolution Entertainment before attacking Demkiw. (Court exhibit)
“This wasn’t random,” Washenfelder said. “This was part of the accused’s plan.”
But the video from the nearby business suddenly stops recording shortly after 2 a.m., so there is no video that shows the man in the dumpster climbing out and attacking Demkiw.
Later that day, a friend of the victim discovered a machete sheath and a hat inside a planter close to the bay door. DNA on the hat was a match to the accused.
The defence insisted the evidence “falls far short.”
“The Crown wants you to believe it was Steadman who climbed into the bin,” Sprake said. “That he lied in wait until sometime after 4:04. At some point exited the bin, took off his hat, removed the knife sheath and machete, placing them delicately in the planter and thereafter attacked Dwayne Demkiw — leaving no signs of a scuffle, no blood or fingerprints anywhere in that area.”
Sprake called the hat the most important piece of physical evidence in the case, but insisted it could not be relied upon because it was found by a civilian and not the police.
“To accept the Crown’s theory, you would have to accept the knife sheath and hat were placed in that planter box by the perpetrator,” Sprake said. “In my respectful submission, that just does not fit with common sense.”
Disposing the body and setting fire to the car
The Crown’s theory is that after Steadman attacked Demkiw in the parking lot with a machete, he drove the victim’s car south, dumping Demkiw’s body in a wooded area near Innisfail just off Highway 2.
Again, Sprake argued the Crown’s theory was illogical.
“There was no evidence of an attempt at burial or a shallow grave,” Sprake said. “It was only 20 feet away from the road. There’s no evidence of how, when or who put those remains along that busy Highway 2. It doesn’t fit. It just doesn’t connect.”
The remains were sun-bleached and scattered by the time they were discovered in April 2016. A medical examiner testified Demkiw’s nose and a rib were broken. There were linear cuts on his skull that could have been made by a meat cleaver, a knife or a machete.
The most significant injury was a notch in his upper vertebrae that would have required cutting through muscle, the carotid artery, the larynx and the jugular vein. Given the state of the remains, Dr. Bernard Bannach was unable to say if the injuries were sustained before or after Demkiw was killed. But he told the jury if it was a pre-mortem attack, there would have been significant blood loss and death would have been imminent.
Luminol testing showed a heavy presence of blood in backseat of Demkiw’s vehicle. (Court exhibit)
Forensic testing conducted on the interior of Demkiw’s car showed massive blood staining in the front and back seats of the vehicle. The blood matched the victim’s DNA.
“The most reasonable explanation for presence of Dwayne’s blood all over the interior of the vehicle is that these wounds were inflicted while Dwayne was alive and in or near his vehicle,” Washenfelder said. “Then Dwayne bled to death in the back seat before being disposed of near Innisfail.”
Seven hours after Demkiw was allegedly attacked in Edmonton, an eyewitness in Calgary spotted a man jogging away from a car on fire in a parkade. He thought the man looked suspicious, so he took an iPhone video of the man from a distance.
Man identified by witness as Jason Steadman at a Calgary C-Train station May 31, 2015. (Court exhibit)
That video was entered as evidence. Moments later, surveillance video picks up the same man entering a nearby C-Train station. The man was identified by key witness Angel Chalifoux, as Jason Steadman.
Chalifoux was an ex-girlfriend of both the victim and the accused, who believes Steadman was jealous of Demkiw and blamed him for their break up. The defence insisted there’s no evidence before the jury that proves there was bad blood between the two men.
Post offence conduct
From a video, Chalifoux identified Steadman as a man who boarded a Greyhound bus travelling from Calgary to Edmonton. She knew Steadman as Robert Aubrey Maxwell. For three years, Steadman had been living under an assumed identity.
On June 1, Steadman checked into a Spruce Grove motel for the next four nights as Robert Max and paid in cash.
Financial records revealed Steadman withdrew almost $40,000 from his bank accounts and through cash advances over the next week. He gave away all of his tools, took down his business website and drove to Vancouver, where he dumped a pick-up truck and purchased a Sea-Doo.
Ultimately, he used the Sea-Doo to cross the border into the United States, where he was later arrested.
“These are the calculated steps of a man taking apart the life that he built after he committed murder,” the Crown said.
But Steadman’s lawyer said his client’s actions were the result of a phone message left by police that could have related to his false identity.
“His leaving Edmonton and ultimately Canada is consistent with someone who has been living under an assumed name for three years and has been contacted by police, but has very little reason to stay,” Sprake said. “Certainly it could be consistent with someone not wanting to attract the attention of police while living under an assumed name.”
The Crown asked the jury to return guilty verdicts on the charges of arson and first-degree murder.
The defence insisted the physical evidence is flawed and should be given little weight.
“One cannot be convicted simply by being buried by a thousand feathers,” Sprake said. “They carry no weight.”
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman will charge the jury Thursday morning.