Chilling details were revisited as sentencing began in Duncan court Monday in the trial of William Gordon Robert Elliott, who pleaded guilty last summer to the murders of Karrie-Ann Stone and Tyeshia Jones.
Crown representatives Scott Van Alstine and Laura Ford began proceedings by informing court that they would be asking for the maximum sentence of 25 years before Elliott is eligible to seek parole.
Elliott, who is in his mid-20s, wearing a black dress shirt and jeans, sat in the prisoner's box while family and friends of each victim sat in a courtroom full of observers.
The prosecution shared details of both murders, as well as the investigation, specifically a "Mr. Big" sting operation in which Elliott confessed to undercover police.
Stone's charred remains were found by a berry picker in Glenora on July 12, 2010, the same day that her mother, Bev Stone, reported her missing. Stone, 42, hadn't been seen since July 7. Jones's body was found on Jan. 28, 2011 behind the Shaker Church cemetery off Indian Road, six days after she was reported missing.
The 18-year-old had been on her way to meet a friend outside the Duncan Superstore when she stopped responding to texts and phone calls. Jones had also suffered blunt force trauma and displayed signs of strangulation, as well as extensive damage to her mouth and eyes.
Investigators began seeing similarities between the two cases in February 2011.
They began sharing information. An undercover operation began in 2011, with police officers posing as members of a criminal organization that recruited Elliott. He met with the "Big Boss" on April 14, 2012, and provided extensive details of both crimes, all recorded on hidden camera. Ford played the video of the meeting in court.
Stone, Elliott said, approached him in the parking lot of the Super 8 Motel, asking if he was "looking for a date." They went to his house and had consensual sex, which he paid her for. Before she left, she asked for more money, and threatened to tell his wife. He beat her with a baseball bat, put her in the box of his truck, and drove her to the location off Elliott Road, where he poured gasoline on her body and burned her.
Asked in the video if she was dead before he lit the fire, Elliott responded, "No."
Elliott said that he accidentally struck Jones with his vehicle outside the Cowichan Tribes Gym, then picked her up and put her in the bed of his truck, driving to the Shaker Church cemetery.
After trying unsuccessfully to have sex with her, he removed her clothes, choked her with her bra, tried to knock her teeth out and poke out her eyes to make it difficult to identify her.
Then he dragged her into the woods. He later burned her clothes and threw some of her teeth into the ocean.
The hearing will resume on Tuesday morning, when the Crown is expected to share details of a meeting between Elliott and his victims' mothers.