Video evidence presented in Bagabuyo murder trial includes movements around crime scene on day of homicide

KAMLOOPS — RCMP testimony in Kamloops Law Courts on Wednesday (April 23) painted a picture of the investigation undertaken when Thompson Rivers University lecturer Mohd Abdullah was reported missing.

Former Kamloops lawyer Butch Bagabuyo is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his former client, Abdullah, in March of 2022.

The missing persons investigation that began before police knew Abdullah had been killed was explored on the sixth day of Bagabuyo’s trial.

A Kamloops RCMP officer described the police search of the victim’s home and a phone conversation with Bagabuyo.

Taking questions from Crown prosecutor Ann Katrine Saettler, Kamloops RCMP missing persons coordinator Cst. Kim Lucas explained she became involved in the investigation on March 15, 2022, four days after Abdullah had been reported missing.

Lucas said she learned Bagabuyo was Abdullah’s lawyer, so she phoned him just before 8 a.m. on March 15 and left a voicemail to explain the reason for the call.

Lucas said Bagabuyo phoned her back about an hour later and she asked him if he knew anything about Abdullah’s whereabouts.

“We had a brief conversation where Butch indicated to me that he’d had a meeting with Mohd on either March 10 or 11, and at the end of the meeting Mohd told Butch that he would see him Monday,” Lucas said, noting the uncertainty around the exact date of the meeting was on Bagabuyo’s part, not her own.

According to Lucas, Bagabuyo did not seem to know that Abdullah had a fiancée, but did comment on knowing that Abdullah had been in previous relationships. Lucas said the phone call ended after she asked Bagabuyo to contact police if he heard anything else about the location of Abdullah.

Cst. Lucas said she and other officers went to Abdullah’s townhome along Pacific Way around 9:45 a.m. on March 16, 2022. Police confirmed Abdullah was not inside the home and they did not locate a body.

While inside, Lucas said she searched the house for approximately two hours and looked for signs of a crime scene or a body. Lucas noted there was a tablet on the kitchen counter that was playing loud music on a loop.

Police seized several items, including the tablet, a cell phone, a hairbrush, a toothbrush and a razor. When asked by Saettler why certain items were seized, Lucas explained the items were chosen in case a DNA profile through the coroner was required.

Lucas said police did not know Abdullah was dead at that point in the investigation.

Saettler showed several photos of Abdullah’s home during the police search, pictures Bagabuyo observed intently while sitting in the courtroom behind his lawyers.

The Crown finished its questioning of Cst. Lucas and defense lawyer Mark Swartz said he had no further questions.

Cpl. David Marshall of Kamloops RCMP took questions related to a compilation of surveillance videos dated March 11, 2022.

Video captured from more than six locations, including Garmin GPS dashboard video from Bagabuyo’s black Honda Pilot, shows the SUV driving around the downtown Kamloops area that morning and afternoon.

Much of the video evidence shown in court Wednesday was included in the previously stated Admissions of Fact.

Around 1:09 p.m. that day, the Honda Pilot is seen on surveillance video driving on and around the 300-block and 400-block of Victoria Street. The vehicle goes to a parkade on Lansdowne Street and Bagabuyo is seen on video from the entrance of the parkade getting a pass from the ticket dispenser.

The next scene shown is from surveillance video of a hallway which connects the Lansdowne parkade to the building containing Sprott Shaw Community College and other businesses.

Bagabuyo is seen walking down the hallway with a large, dark-coloured duffel bag before getting into an elevator. The compilation video series continues with footage of the black Honda Pilot leaving the parkade.

The black SUV is seen parallel parking in front of Instinct Adornment, a business along the 300-block of Victoria Street, before Bagabuyo gets out of the vehicle.

Cameras from the exterior of the business show the driver of the vehicle, who Cpl. Marshall identified to Crown lawyers as Bagabuyo, walking west on Victoria Street at 5:30 p.m. holding two large, black garbage bags and loading them into the trunk of his vehicle.

Video at 5:38 p.m. shows Bagabuyo walking down Victoria Street toward his vehicle, this time dragging a large black storage tote bin with a red lid. Bagabuyo is seen struggling for some time to load it into the back of the black Honda Pilot.

Eventually, a passerby stops, approaches the car and is seen helping Bagabuyo lift the storage tote into the trunk of the SUV, along with a black garbage bag.

Bagabuyo is shown handing what appears to be cash to the passerby, who is then seen leaving.

Later that day, Bagabuyo is seen from the same surveillance view walking along Victoria Street with another black garbage bag. Dash camera video from Bagabuyo’s vehicle then shows his SUV leaving its parking spot on Victoria Street.

Crown lawyers also sought to call more than five expert witnesses and without issues raised by defense the application submitted by Crown prosecutors for the ability to call 10 expert witnesses was approved by Justice Kathleen Ker.

The judge-alone trial is set to resume Thursday and next week from Kamloops Law Courts, eventually moving to Vancouver for the final weeks of proceedings.