The murder trial for the accused in a Dallas RV Park killing last year began in Kamloops Supreme Court today.
The 12-person jury convened for the first time Wednesday in the trial for Stephen Fraser, who is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Cody Foster from February 2017.
New details from the incident were also made public.
In opening remarks, Crown lawyer Camille Cook explained to the jury that Foster was beaten and then stabbed to death in his home in the Kamloops RV Park, having been stabbed in the face and the neck. The incident in the trailer, located in the park at 9225 Dallas Drive, occurred at around 9:30 p.m. that night.
Cook says that according to witnesses, Fraser began banging on the side of a neighbor’s RV while bloodied and was urgently was asking for help, claiming that he himself had been stabbed.
Two of the RV’s occupants, Jeffrey Nielson Jr. and his girlfriend, were then led to Foster’s trailer where they discovered his dead body. Witness accounts stated that Nielson Jr. pinned Fraser afterwards until police arrived a short time later.
While pinned on the ground, witness statements say Fraser was mumbling sentences indicating he may have been involved with a B.C. gang called the Independent Soldiers.
The owner’s of the neighboring RV, Jeffrey Sr. and Louise Nielson, were the first two witnesses to give testimony. Jeffrey Sr. says he is a former auxiliary RCMP officer and paramedic, and since Foster’s killing he told the jury he’s been treated for “extreme PTSD” due to what he witnessed.
“Today’s going to be the first day of our lives again,” Jeffrey Sr. told the jury at the end of his testimony.
In total, Cook says 14 witnesses will take the stand for the Crown to speak about Foster’s death. S
he says Fraser’s murder trial is expected to last into next week.