CALGARY -- An eleven-member jury will enter seclusion Tuesday to begin deliberating the case against a man and woman charged in connection with a 2017 quadruple homicide.
After more than five hours of instructions from the judge, the jury was charged Monday evening following a six-week trial for Yu Chieh (Diana) Liao and Tewodros Kebede, who are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Hanock Afowerk.
The body of the 26-year-old was discovered beaten, duct-taped and shot in a ditch near Highway 8 and Highway 22 on July 12, 2017.
Two days earlier, the bodies of 36-year-old Glynnis Fox, 39-year-old Tiffany Ear and 25-year-old Cody Pfeiffer were found shot to death in Afowerk’s torched vehicle at a construction site in the northwest community of Sage Hill.
The Crown argued the motive for these deaths was to eliminate witnesses after Afowerk was tortured in an auto shop while being held for ransom, and eventually killed.
Murder charges have not been laid in the murders of the three victims in the burned car but Calgary Police Service said the investigation remains open. Liao faces three counts of accessory after the fact. Kebede is charged with one count of accessory after the fact for Pfeiffer.
“You are the judges of the facts,” said Justice Blair Nixon as he instructed the jury. “Use your common sense.”
Since the court charge ended at nearly 9 p.m., the jury will not begin deliberations until Tuesday morning.
