Fourth person sentenced to jail for interfering with remains of Edmonton man
The last of four people sentenced for concealing an Edmonton man’s body in a ditch following his death in 2021 will serve 17 months in jail.
Mark Elder was sentenced Wednesday for his role in the death of Donald Blizzard. Elder was handed an 18-month sentence, with 27 days’ credit for time already served, for committing an indignity to Blizzard’s remains.
In her decision, Court of King’s Bench Justice Lynn Michele Angotti characterized Elder’s crime as a morally reprehensible act that violated society’s moral code, obstructed justice and traumatized Blizzard’s family.
“There are no mitigating factors that reduce the gravity of this offence,” Angotti said.
“Society has a repugnance for the improper treatment of human remains.”
Following Blizzard’s disappearance in March 2021, friends and family spent nearly two months searching for him before his badly decomposed body was found inside a bag along a road in Lac Ste. Anne County, west of Edmonton.
A cause of death could not be determined. Blizzard’s death was ruled a homicide but no one has been held criminally responsible for the killing.
Angotti said it was only through “fortune and excellent forensic techniques” that Blizzard was identified as the victim.
“Stuffing a body into a bag so it can be unceremoniously dumped into a ditch and subject to the ravages of nature” was a violation that hindered the police investigation, left his family frantically searching for weeks, and prevented Blizzard’s loved ones from laying him to rest with respect, Angotti said.
The judge said she hoped the sentence would provide Blizzard’s family some measure of closure but said they will never have “the answers they seek” about how their son was killed.
Elder, wearing a blue sweater and black pants, hung his head as the sentence was read, then slumped in his chair with his face in his hands.
Granted permission to say goodbye to his family in court, he embraced his partner as she sobbed.
Four men convicted
Elder is the fourth and final man to be sentenced for interfering with Blizzard’s remains.
The others were all initially charged with second-degree murder in 2022, but each pleaded guilty to the lesser interference charge.
Justin March was sentenced to 2½ years in prison, Kevin Turner received two years and Andrew Walker was sentenced to 17 months.
According to a prosecutor on the case, the evidence didn’t provide a reasonable likelihood of a homicide conviction against any of the accused.
Court heard that Blizzard was bound and struck in the face at a downtown Edmonton rental suite on the day he died.
March was concerned Blizzard was getting too noisy and that someone might contact police. The pair had been using drugs and March was on parole and prohibited from being in the city.
Turner was called to the suite and together the men overpowered Blizzard.
He was tied up with tape, and a sock was stuffed into his mouth. He struggled, vomited and then fell still.
Watch: Edmonton mother says justice denied in her son’s death:
At the end of a lengthy court process, no one is being held legally responsible for Donald Blizzard’s death.
Elder admitted to the court that he came to the building on the morning of July 30, 2021, aware that a body was there. By then, Blizzard had been dead for two days.
According to the agreed statement of facts, Elder arrived at the building with Turner. Both wore gloves, face masks and baseball caps, with hoods pulled up over them.
Elder “made deliberate attempts not to see anything,” but knew what Turner was doing as he struggled to get Blizzard’s body into a rolling sports bag, according to the agreed facts.
The pair were recorded leaving the building, Turner pulling the bag while Elder helped to conceal part of Blizzard’s body with a large box. Elder also hauled the bag at one point, and the two men loaded Blizzard’s body into a car and drove away.
Elements of obstruction
The Crown was seeking three-year prison sentence for Elder, while defence lawyer Barbara Dowker said he should serve 18 months of house arrest, followed by two years of probation.
Angotti said allowing Elder to serve his time in the community would not be a fitting sentence.
Despite Elder’s remorse and efforts to move away from a “life of crime,” what he did to Blizzard demands a clear condemnation by the court, she said.
“Despite pretending not to see anything, he knew he had come to the unit to remove a deceased individual for the purpose of covering up the circumstances of their death,” the judge said.
“His sole motivation was to avoid criminal responsibility, even if that was criminal responsibility for another.”
‘No justice’
Blizzard’s stepfather, Jocelyn Guillemette, said he often worried that his stepson would suffer harm due his addictions.
He feared Blizzard would overdose, but he can’t fathom that he suffered such a cruel and violent end.
“He had some drug issues, where we expected that maybe we would have a knock at the door,” Guillemette said, his voice breaking. “But not this way, with the way he was beaten. Beaten, abused, and disposed of.”
Blizzard’s mother, Janet Hazen, said she and the family have been robbed of closure.
She doubts anyone will ever be held responsible for her son’s death
She said the judicial system failed her son.
“To us, there is no justice.”
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