The man who killed Chelsey Gauthier of Abbotsford in 2017 was convicted Tuesday (July 22) of manslaughter 鈥� instead of the second-degree murder charge he faced 鈥� and was released from court on bail until his sentencing.
Justice Dev Dley also found Gary Losch, 69, guilty of interference with a dead body as around 50 family members and friends of Gauthier filled the courtroom. Many of them wore green-ribbon pins in memory of her favourite colour.
Losch, whose trial began Feb. 25, is due back in B.C. Supreme Court in Abbotsford on Aug. 18 to set a date for sentencing.
Gauthier, 22 at the time and a single mom of two young girls, was reported missing on July 30, 2017.
Her body was found Aug. 16 of that year in a shallow grave in an isolated area of Mission near Sylvester Road and Dale Road. She had been stabbed.
Dley said Gauthier knew Losch because she was among those who had tended to his illegal marijuana grow-up on that Mission property.
On July 27, 2017, Losch鈥檚 friend, Bill, drove him and Gauthier from Abbotsford to the grow-op around noon with plans to pick them up later that night, Dley said.
Bill later told investigators he had received a message from Losch that he and Gauthier were going to camp on the property overnight.
Dley said Bill arrived to pick them up the next morning, but only Losch was waiting. Losch told Bill that Gauthier had become scared of bears in the middle of the night and hitchhiked home.
Meanwhile, friends and family were growing concerned because they had not heard from Gauthier 鈥� who regularly posted on social media and was in constant contact with them 鈥� and were unable to reach her.
She was reported missing, and a police investigation began.
In interviews with officers, Losch repeated the story that Gauthier had left the Mission property to hitchhike home, but also provided another version 鈥� that she had left with a boyfriend and another person.
Dley said investigators did a 鈥渃ursory search鈥� of the Mission property on Aug. 2, 2017, but it wasn鈥檛 until a more thorough search there on Aug. 16 that they discovered Gauthier鈥檚 remains in a shallow grave near a tent.
Gauthier had been wrapped in a sheet and was naked from the waist down, Dley said.
An autopsy showed she had been stabbed in the back. Dley said the only DNA evidence that could be obtained was from a portion of the sheet, and it matched Losch.
Losch then suggested to investigators that Gauthier might have been killed because people he worked for might have thought she was an informant or had stolen from them, Dley said.
Losch did not testify in court, but Dley said he did not believe any of his versions of events.
Evidence presented in court included cellphone records that showed Losch was in the area of Sylvester Road and Dale Road on July 27, 2017 and in some of the days that followed.
There were also pictures of Gauthier in the grow-op that had been taken by Losch on that day.
The judge also said the location of Gauthier鈥檚 body was significant in that it was found on the same property. He said it鈥檚 鈥渋nconceivable鈥� that she would have left the site, been killed elsewhere and then buried by the killers back on that property.
Dley said although the Crown鈥檚 case was circumstantial, he had no doubt that Losch was responsible for her death.
鈥淚f logic, human experience and common sense are excluded from an assessment of the entirety of the evidence, then there are a number of possibilities arguable with respect to the identity of the assailant, the cause of death and the circumstances of Ms. Gauthier鈥檚 killing and burial,鈥� he said.
But Dley said he could not find Losch guilty of second-degree murder because the Crown did not prove that he had the intention to kill Gauthier, and he instead convicted him of manslaughter.
Dley said the motive for the killing has not been established, but because Gauthier was found naked from the waist down, 鈥渢here may have been a sexual component.鈥�
Speaking outside of the courthouse after the ruling, Gauthier鈥檚 dad, Ray, and brother, Jeremiah, said despite Losch being found guilty of a lesser charge, they are pleased he was convicted of her death.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing now is we鈥檙e hoping and praying that he will get the maximum for the manslaughter 鈥� whatever they can give him for that,鈥� Ray said.
He said it boggles his mind that Losch was able to walk out of the courthouse after the verdict.
鈥淭his is something that needs to change in our justice system. Knowing that I can run into him at the 7-Eleven down the road and I literally have to avoid driving around town so I don鈥檛 have to see him because it hurts that much, but he can freely walk,鈥� Ray said.
He said Gauthier鈥檚 death has left a huge void. He described his daughter as being 鈥済oofy and fun.鈥�
鈥淪he didn鈥檛 have a mean bone in her body. She loved helping people 鈥� She was just a very caring, loving, beautiful woman who just loved animals,鈥� he said.
Jeremiah described his sister as having been his 鈥渂est friend.鈥�
鈥淲hen I couldn鈥檛 say much to my parents or anyone else around me, I could talk to her about anything,鈥� he said.
The maximum sentence for manslaughter in Canada is life in prison, but most sentences range between four and 15 years.
