Murder trial hears victim 'so happy' moving into first home in 12 years a week before death
CBC
Six days before she was viciously killed, Judy Maerz bought second-hand furniture from the Women in Need Society in preparation for the end of a 12-year stretch of sofa-surfing.
"She was really happy," said Tom Reilly, who described 58-year-old Maerz as his "best friend."
Reilly testified Monday on Day 4 of Christopher Dunlop's first-degree murder trial.
Dunlop is accused of picking Maerz up in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2023, and stabbing her 79 times before setting her body on fire in the Deerfoot Athletic Park.
Police found what was later determined to be Dunlop's blood near Maerz's body.
At the time of Maerz's death, Dunlop had recently finished serving a 13-year sentence in the homicide of Laura Furlan, a woman he'd picked up for sex in 2009.
In his manslaughter plea, Dunlop admitted to choking Furlan and then dumping her body in Fish Creek Park. He later told undercover police that he'd set out to kill someone "who wouldn't be missed" and who he could "f–k up."
In his testimony on Monday, Reilly described his friend as "jovial, fun" and someone who "liked to dance."
She also struggled with addiction, said Reilly. Sometimes working as a prostitute to make ends meet and fund her drug habit.
Through Home Space, an organization that connects vulnerable Calgarians with low-income housing, Maerz had signed a lease on an apartment in the southwest community of Bankview.
Reilly testified that it was the first time since he'd met her 12 years earlier that Maerz had her own place. Otherwise she'd been bouncing around, often couch-surfing or living with a friend.
Photos taken of Maerz's apartment two days after her death show a sparse space.
Bedsheets covered the windows, there was no art on the walls and the little furniture she did have was mismatched, having been picked up from the Women in Need Society (WINS) six days before her death.
Reilly had helped Maerz pick up those items. They later hung out and watched a movie.
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