In September 2015 three people died within five days in the Crowsnest Pass, a string of former coal-mining towns in the Rocky Mountains in the southwest corner of Alberta. Hanne Meketech, 69, died in Coleman. Five days later Terry Blanchette, 27, died in Blairmore, about six kilometers away, and his two-year-old daughter, Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, died the same week. Within a day of the Blairmore deaths a 22-year-old local man, Derek James Saretzky, was under arrest. Six months later, in a jail interview, he admitted the Coleman killing as well.
A jury in Lethbridge found him guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in June 2017. The trial judge, Justice William Tilleman of the Court of Queen's Bench, ordered that he serve 75 years before he could apply for parole, a sentence the judge said meant "the chapter is closed." It did not stay closed. Five years later, after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that stacked parole ineligibility periods were unconstitutional, the Alberta Court of Appeal reduced his wait to 25 years. The case runs through two of the most contested questions in modern Canadian sentencing: how the law should answer a person who kills more than once, and whether any sentence may close the door on release for good.
The Municipality of Crowsnest Pass lies in the Rocky Mountains about 269 kilometers southwest of Calgary. It was formed in 1979 when five former mining communities, Bellevue, Hillcrest, Frank, Coleman and Blairmore, were brought together under one local government. Settlement began in the 1880s with a Canadian Pacific Railway branch line through the pass, and coal mining became the main economic activity. The area carries the memory of two great disasters: the Frank Slide of 1903, when a rock slide off Turtle Mountain killed at least 70 people, and the 1914 Hillcrest mine disaster, which killed 189 miners and remains the worst in Canadian history. By the 1980s the last mines had closed, and the municipality turned to tourism. The 2011 census counted 5,565 residents.
Blairmore and Coleman sit about six kilometers apart. RCMP Inspector Derek Williams, who led the serious crime work on the case for southern Alberta, later spoke of the particular weight of the deaths in "small town settings where everyone knows their neighbours."
Saretzky was 22 in September 2015 and lived in Blairmore. His family had deep roots in the Pass. His grandparents lived in Coleman, and his grandfather testified that he and his wife had been good friends with their neighbor, Hanne Meketech, for about 25 years. For a short time Saretzky and his mother had lived across the street from her, and he had helped her with yard work. She was part of the family's get-togethers and holidays, a friend of both his parents and his grandparents.
He had also known Hailey's mother. She told reporters in September 2015 that she and Saretzky had been close friends years earlier but had not spoken in about three years. At trial she said they met when Hailey was a baby, that they never dated, and that for some months he spent time with her several times a week before contact ended. RCMP described him as an acquaintance of Terry Blanchette. Neighbors said that the two men did not get along.
Little about his schooling or work has been made public. His grandfather testified that in September 2015 Saretzky was struggling with alcohol and drugs and had asked to see him, and that he had not been ready to meet with his grandson. An aunt testified that she saw him at church that month and invited him to her home. He seemed distressed, she said, and when she asked whether he was in trouble, she recalled him answering, "No, not really, not unless they find me or catch me." She told the court that he had told her he had done "something really bad."
Hanne Meketech was 69 and lived in Coleman. Her spelling is also printed as Hanna. To her neighbors of a quarter century she was "a very nice lady" who "had a real big heart," someone who was there for people who needed her. Witnesses at trial described her as happy-go-lucky. She kept many pets, and her Christmas lights brightened the neighborhood. A friend who became the sole executor of her will told the court of her deep love for animals, and the court heard that she had left her estate to Ronald McDonald House. After her death, neighbors raised money for her funeral. One of them described her as a woman who loved animals and children.
She died in Coleman in September 2015, five days before the deaths in Blairmore. The RCMP Major Crimes Unit South, the Forensic Identification Section and the Crowsnest Pass detachment opened a homicide investigation, but for months no one was charged, and the RCMP said at first that it had no information linking her death to the Blairmore case. The lead investigator on her case later testified that the inquiry was put on hold when the Blairmore deaths came in.
Terry Blanchette was 27 and lived in Blairmore. His sister, nine years older, said she had been "Terry's protector when he was born." She and the rest of the family said he had turned his life around when he learned he would become a father, and that from then on he put his daughter first. His mother called him hardworking and productive, a devoted father who "would do anything" for his child. "Terry became a responsible human being," she said. "He was a great father." He lived in the Crowsnest Pass and spent as much time outdoors as he could. His daughter, he once said, gave him "a reason to be a good person." He insisted on being part of her last name.
Hailey's parents had separated, and they shared custody. Her mother, who described Blanchette as a devoted father, said of Hailey that she was "smart, beautiful, the greatest child ever."
Terry Blanchette died in Blairmore on September 14, 2015. Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette died in the Crowsnest Pass in September 2015. She was two years old.
On September 14, 2015, the RCMP Major Crimes Unit was called in to Blairmore. At a news conference that evening the RCMP confirmed that it was investigating Blanchette's death as a homicide.
Information from inside Saretzky's own family brought the case to him. His cousin was the first to alert police, and on September 15 his father asked police to speak with his son. At a news conference on September 15 the RCMP announced that a 22-year-old man had been arrested and was being questioned. That day Saretzky confessed to both Blairmore killings.
In a videotaped statement he described the deaths of Terry Blanchette and Hailey, said he had acted out of anger over his claim that Blanchette had mistreated Hailey's mother, and asked whether he would have a chance if he pleaded insanity. He also spoke to officers about the devil and God; the Crown later argued that this talk was groundwork for an insanity defense.
On September 16, 2015, Saretzky was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Terry Blanchette and Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, with another charge. RCMP Superintendent Tony Hamori, assistant district officer for southern Alberta, said Saretzky had been an acquaintance of Blanchette's. The RCMP said it believed the killings had been planned.
He made his first court appearance in Lethbridge in late September, when a 30-day psychiatric assessment was ordered. In late October the assessment was extended by another 30 days. In late November 2015 a Lethbridge court found him fit to stand trial.
In February 2016 a preliminary hearing was set for June. It never took place: on April 29, 2016, the Crown chose to proceed directly to trial.
After the Blairmore deaths were confirmed, Saretzky became a suspect in the Coleman case as well, because of similarities between the deaths. It took about six months to arrange a further interview. On March 2, 2016, RCMP Staff Sergeant Mike McCauley, an interview specialist, met him at the correctional center where he was held on remand. The sergeant told him that he could leave whenever he liked and that anything he said could be used as evidence. In that interview Saretzky admitted killing Hanne Meketech.
He described it as "a spur-of-the-moment thing." Asked why he had chosen her, he said he did not think anybody cared about her, and that he thought no one would miss her. He said he wished he had not done it and that it could not be undone. After the admission, the officer reminded him that he was free to leave; he chose to stay and gave more detail.
On April 20, 2016, the RCMP announced that Saretzky, now 23, had been charged with the first-degree murder of Hanne Meketech. Inspector Williams said the investigation had determined that the two "were known to each other," and called the motive "difficult to say." He spoke of the toll on the towns: the shock, he said, was compounded for "those that live there." Blairmore's deputy mayor called the new charge "bittersweet news" and one step toward closure.
On the first anniversary of the deaths, Saretzky's mother and grandmother spoke publicly for the first time. His grandmother said: "I always will support him. We love him." She added: "I'm so sorry for what they are going through... we are just horrified at what happened." His mother said that her entire life had changed and that she did not know where to go from there; she said that she, too, felt ostracized, and that her home and vehicle had been vandalized. "We probably know less than anybody," the grandmother said. "Police won't tell us anything and people don't tell us anything."
When the trial came, the two families supported each other. Saretzky's aunt thanked the Crowsnest Pass and Lethbridge communities for their support and told reporters that the Blanchette family had sent "messages of love and support and prayers." Terry Blanchette's mother, in her victim impact statement, said that Saretzky's actions disgusted her, but she expressed sympathy for his family.
Saretzky pleaded not guilty to all charges on May 8, 2017, when pretrial voir dire hearings on the admissibility of evidence began before Justice William Tilleman of the Court of Queen's Bench in Lethbridge. A jury of 14, seven women and seven men, was chosen, and the jury trial opened on June 7, 2017. He faced three counts of first-degree murder, with another charge.
The Crown, led by Photini Papadatou with Michael Fox, called dozens of witnesses over 11 days: police officers, members of both families and forensic experts. The heart of its case was Saretzky's own words. Jurors watched the videotaped interviews, including the September 2015 statement and the March 2016 interview with Staff Sergeant McCauley. His grandfather testified about Hanne Meketech and the family's long friendship with her. His father testified through tears about the day he went to police. His aunt testified about seeing him at church. Hailey's mother testified about her relationship with Blanchette and about her friendship with Saretzky. The lead investigators on both cases testified, and the jury heard forensic evidence.
To prove first-degree murder, the Crown had to show not only that Saretzky had caused the three deaths but that he had planned them and deliberated beforehand. It pointed to similarities between the deaths, to evidence that it said showed planning, and to the way the forensic evidence matched his account to police. "One, he told you that he did it," Papadatou told the jury.
When the Crown closed its case, the defense, led by Patrick Edgerton, announced that it would call no evidence, and Saretzky did not testify. In his closing address on June 26, Edgerton reminded jurors that the accused begins on the side of innocence despite "natural inclinations," and he concentrated on the Coleman count. He argued that the police had made suggestions to Saretzky in the interviews and that Saretzky had agreed with many of them, and that even if the jury accepted that he had killed Hanne Meketech, "there still isn't enough for you to take the additional leap to planning and deliberation." Second-degree murder was open to the jury on each count, as was a verdict of not guilty.
Justice Tilleman instructed the jury on June 28, 2017. Two of the 14 jurors were dismissed by random draw to bring the panel to 12, and the 12 deliberated for about three hours. They returned their verdicts the same day: guilty of first-degree murder on all three counts, and guilty on the other charge. Saretzky stood with his head slightly bent as the verdicts were read. Friends of Hanne Meketech wept in the gallery.
"The verdict obviously is for the victims here," Inspector Williams said outside court. "It's traumatic and it's a tragedy for, obviously, the victims and the families." Edgerton called the trial "a tough process for everyone involved," and spoke of its toll on the families, the community and the jurors themselves. That night Mark Farrant, a former juror who had become an advocate for counseling for jurors after five months as a juror on a 2014 trial, said the Saretzky jurors had been exposed to distressing evidence day after day. "It's impossible not to take that home with you," he said. "That stuff lives with you."
Under Canadian law a conviction for first-degree murder carries an automatic sentence of life imprisonment, with no parole for at least 25 years. The jury was asked whether the parole ineligibility periods for the three murders should run one after the other. It unanimously recommended that they should.
The sentencing hearing opened the next day, June 29, 2017. Seven victim impact statements were put before the court; two were read in person, and the Crown read others aloud.
Hailey's maternal grandmother said her life had changed on the day she learned what had happened to her granddaughter. "Our family has been to hell," she wrote. Hailey's mother, in a statement read by Papadatou, described her daughter as her reason for living and said she still struggled to get out of bed; she also described hateful messages and blame that had been aimed at her since September 2015. Terry Blanchette's sister described her brother as someone who had shown the family what love meant. His mother described a hardworking son and a devoted father, and said every moment she had spent with her granddaughter had been precious.
Hanne Meketech's friend, who read her statement in person, spoke of Hanne's love for animals. As the executor of her will, she told the court that the estate had gone to Ronald McDonald House.
Saretzky's lawyer told the court that his client would not make a statement.
For the Crown, Michael Fox argued that the killings were aggravated by their nature and by the vulnerability of the victims, that Hailey's death had been planned, and that Saretzky's smiling during the trial showed a lack of remorse. He asked for consecutive parole ineligibility periods for the three murders, for a total of 75 years, plus a concurrent term of five years on the other charge. Edgerton asked for parole eligibility after 25 years, pointing to his client's age: he had been 22 at the time of the killings and was 24 at sentencing. The court received written submissions in July.
On August 9, 2017, Justice Tilleman sentenced Saretzky to life imprisonment on each murder count and made the three 25-year periods of parole ineligibility consecutive, as the Crown and the jury had recommended. He would not be able to apply for parole for 75 years, which, with the time he had already served, meant he would be 97 before he could first apply. The judge added a five-year term on the other charge, to be served concurrently.
The judge found that Saretzky showed no remorse and that each killing was a distinct, deliberate act. Saretzky had time to abandon his plans, he said, and instead went on to commit more murders. "In these extreme circumstances, there is overwhelming evidence that Mr. Saretzky is a lethal harm to his community," Tilleman said. "I'm satisfied he is dangerous." He rejected the idea that the sentence was an act of revenge: "A sentence of jail is not a sentence of vengeance." There was, he said, "next to no chance" that Saretzky would ever be free. "This chapter is closed."
Family and friends of the victims wept, as did members of Saretzky's family and several jurors who had come back to hear the decision. Saretzky showed little emotion. Terry Blanchette's father said: "It's the best we could have hoped for." Papadatou said the case had restored her faith "in both justice and the community," and thanked the jury, the court and the RCMP. Edgerton said the sentence was not surprising under the law as it then stood, that his client was still taking it in, and that any appeal would depend on his instructions. He predicted that the constitutionality of consecutive parole ineligibility periods would be challenged in time.
The 75-year term rested on a law passed in 2011. Until December 2011, a person serving life for more than one murder in Canada could apply for parole after a single ineligibility period of between 10 and 25 years, because the periods ran concurrently. The Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act, which came into force on December 2, 2011, allowed judges to impose consecutive periods of 25 years for each victim on anyone convicted of more than one first- or second-degree murder. "Ending sentence discounts for multiple murderers acknowledges the value of each life taken," Robert Goguen said at the time. On the same day, the Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime Act repealed the "faint hope clause," which had allowed people serving life for murder to ask for a jury review of their parole eligibility after 15 years. For anyone convicted of first-degree murder committed on or after December 2, 2011, there would be no application for parole until the full 25 years had been served.
Other 75-year terms came before his. In October 2014 a judge in Moncton, New Brunswick, ordered Justin Bourque, who had pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and two of attempted murder, to serve 75 years before he could apply for parole. In June 2016 John Ostamas, who pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder in Winnipeg, received the same period. In February 2017, six months before Saretzky's sentence, Douglas Garland was given life without parole for 75 years in Calgary for three first-degree murders.
Eligibility has never meant release. The Parole Board of Canada states plainly that "parole is not automatically granted when inmates become eligible," and that offenders serving life sentences "remain under sentence until the day they die." A person serving life who is released on parole stays under the supervision of a Correctional Service of Canada parole officer for the rest of his life.
On September 7, 2017, the Calgary lawyer Balfour Der filed a notice of appeal against both conviction and sentence. On conviction, he challenged whether Saretzky's statements to police had been properly admitted and the Crown's use of similar-fact evidence. On sentence, he argued that 75 years was far too long and that the Criminal Code provision allowing consecutive parole ineligibility periods breached Saretzky's rights under the Charter. "The system is not infallible, mistakes can be made, errors can be made," Der said.
Saretzky later abandoned all of his conviction grounds but one: the conviction for the murder of Hanne Meketech. The argument was that the March 2016 interview had turned into an interrogation and that he had not been properly advised of his right to counsel before he made the admission. On November 24, 2020, a three-justice panel of the Alberta Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the appeal. Writing for the court, Justice Peter Martin held that the duty to advise a person of the right to counsel arises on arrest or detention, and that neither applied. "The appellant was not under arrest and the trial judge found he had not been detained," he wrote. "Those findings were well supported by the evidence and are entitled to deference." It "may have been preferable" to remind him of his right to a lawyer, the court said, but the omission "was not fatal to the validity of Saretzky's admission." All three murder convictions stood.
The sentence appeal had a longer road. The constitutional challenge to consecutive periods had not been raised before the trial judge. "I honestly have no idea why the constitutional challenge was not made by his counsel to the trial judge," Der said. In October 2021 the Court of Appeal agreed to let Saretzky raise the argument, but adjourned it until the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the case of Alexandre Bissonnette, who had killed six people in Quebec City in 2017 and whose 40-year ineligibility period had been reduced to 25 years by the Quebec Court of Appeal. Prosecutor Christine Rideout objected to the delay: "He should not have taken nearly three years to have his conviction appeal heard." Der argued that, as it stood, the sentence would be "in essence, a life sentence ... A whole life sentence."
On May 27, 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously declared section 745.51 of the Criminal Code, the 2011 provision allowing consecutive ineligibility periods, to be invalid. The provision, the court found, violated the guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment in section 12 of the Charter in a way that could not be justified. It permitted ineligibility periods of 50, 75, 100 or even 150 years, which the Chief Justice described as authorizing a period that "exceeds the life expectancy of any human being." A life sentence with no realistic chance of parole presumes that the offender can never be rehabilitated, the court held; that is degrading and incompatible with human dignity. By removing any possibility of reintegration, the Chief Justice wrote, the provision "shakes the very foundations of Canadian criminal law." The court declared it invalid from the date it was enacted in 2011.
The ruling reached every multiple murderer sentenced under the provision, but not automatically. "It is not automatic - they must make applications and argue," University of Calgary law professor Lisa Silver said. The decision drew strong reactions. Former prime minister Stephen Harper, whose government had introduced consecutive ineligibility, called it a "grave injustice." The federal justice minister, David Lametti, said he disagreed with the decision but would respect it. Michelle Rempel Garner, the member of Parliament for Calgary Nose Hill, said it could "re-victimize these families." Der, for his part, said the court had left the door open: "There's always a chance someone can be rehabilitated."
On June 16, 2022, the Supreme Court sent the Alberta sentences of Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank, two men convicted of three first-degree murders committed in 2013, back to the Alberta Court of Appeal to be decided in line with Bissonnette. Saretzky's appeal was scheduled to be heard on June 21. Der said beforehand that he hoped the Crown would simply concede.
On Friday, June 24, 2022, the Alberta Court of Appeal applied Bissonnette in three Alberta cases at once. Saretzky's parole ineligibility was reduced from 75 years to 25. The same decision day brought Edward Downey, convicted of two first-degree murders committed in Calgary in 2016, from 50 years to 25, and Klaus and Frank from 50 years to 25. All four men would be able to apply for parole after 25 years.
Der said the ruling gave his client hope and a chance at rehabilitation, and that the 75-year term "just means it's taken away all hope from this young man." Under the original sentence, Saretzky would have been 97 before he could apply to the Parole Board; under the new one, he would be 47.
Terry Blanchette's sister, who was also Hailey's aunt, said she was "very disappointed" in the decision. She said the killings had themselves been "cruel and unusual," and she called for the return of capital punishment.
The life sentences themselves were unchanged. In June 2022 Saretzky remained in custody serving life imprisonment, with the right to apply for parole after 25 years and no guarantee of release when that day comes.
A candlelight vigil for Hailey was held in the Crowsnest Pass in September 2015, and neighbors in Coleman raised money for Hanne Meketech's funeral. Members of Terry and Hailey's family said they were trying to honor the two by living life fully. Global News crime reporter Nancy Hixt devoted the first two episodes of the second season of her Crime Beat podcast to the case in October 2019, with one episode told from the side of Terry and Hailey's family and the other including an interview with Saretzky's mother, whose own life had also been changed by her son's actions.
1979: The Municipality of Crowsnest Pass is formed from five former mining communities, including Coleman and Blairmore.
December 2, 2011: Consecutive parole ineligibility periods for multiple murders become law in Canada; the faint hope clause is repealed for new offenses.
September 2015: Hanne Meketech, 69, dies in Coleman; the RCMP open a homicide investigation.
September 14, 2015: Terry Blanchette, 27, dies in Blairmore.
September 15, 2015: Derek Saretzky, 22, is arrested and confesses to the Blairmore killings; Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, 2, has also died.
September 16, 2015: Charged with two counts of first-degree murder, with another charge.
Late September to November 2015: Psychiatric assessments; found fit to stand trial.
March 2, 2016: Admits the Coleman killing in an interview with RCMP Staff Sergeant Mike McCauley.
April 20, 2016: Charged with the first-degree murder of Hanne Meketech.
April 29, 2016: The Crown sends the case directly to trial.
September 14, 2016: His mother and grandmother speak publicly for the first time.
May 8, 2017: Pleads not guilty; pretrial hearings begin in Lethbridge.
June 7, 2017: Jury trial opens before Justice William Tilleman, Court of Queen's Bench.
June 28, 2017: Guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, with another charge; the jury recommends consecutive parole ineligibility.
June 29, 2017: Victim impact statements heard.
August 9, 2017: Life imprisonment, with no parole for 75 years.
September 7, 2017: Appeal filed against conviction and sentence.
October 2019: Global News podcast episodes on the case.
November 24, 2020: Alberta Court of Appeal dismisses the appeal against the Meketech conviction.
October 2021: The Court of Appeal allows a constitutional challenge to the sentence and adjourns it pending Bissonnette.
May 27, 2022: The Supreme Court of Canada strikes down consecutive parole ineligibility in R. v. Bissonnette.
June 21, 2022: Sentence appeal scheduled for hearing.
June 24, 2022: The Alberta Court of Appeal reduces his parole ineligibility to 25 years.