Victim suspected of informing on drug dealers
Edmonton Sun, Calgary Herald and other CanWest newspapers, by Daryl Slade, Canwest News Service, February 9, 2008
CALGARY - Ruchael Eva Friars was sadistically tortured, slain and her body discarded in a landfill because her killers thought she had told police about the activities of some of their drug-dealing friends.
It was revealed at the sentencing hearing Friday of one of the killers, Alexis Marie Vandenberg, that police concluded the victim had never "ratted" anyone out.
"Friars' situation was completely unprovoked, misunderstood, and led to her death," Crown prosecutor Iwona Kukliciz told Court of Queen's Bench Justice Beth Hughes.
"She was confined, beaten, cut and burned in the face as enforcement and retribution. It's just as serious as if there was financial gain. The gain here was to show that things are done a certain way and, if you don't follow, this is what happens."
Vandenberg, 25, had been charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty Friday to manslaughter.
She is the second of the three prostitutes charged to do so in the attack on either April 30 or May 1, 2006.
Crystal Dawn Struthers, 28, pleaded guilty to the same charge in December and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 22.
Sara Rowe, 25, the alleged ringleader of the three sex-trade workers who killed Friars, 34, also a prostitute and mother of three children, faces a jury trial on a charge of first-degree murder starting Oct. 20.
According to an agreed statement of facts, her killers gave Friars an anti-psychotic drug that can cause drowsiness during the many hours they confined her to keep her from screaming while she was being slashed with box cutters and beaten. They also put Super Glue on her mouth and eyes to keep them shut.
Her body was found at a landfill a month after her death.
Vandenberg is originally from the Northwest Territories and of aboriginal heritage.
Defence lawyer Markham Silver recommended a sentence of six to eight years -- to be served at a native healing lodge in Saskatchewan -- while the prosecutor argued for a sentence of eight to 10 years.
Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 29.
© The Edmonton Journal 2008