Man accused of killing a 2nd woman has 'clear animus toward sex workers': Crown
Christopher Dunlop killed Laura Furlan in 2009. Now he's accused of murdering Judy Maerz in a similar way
Christopher Ward Dunlop has a "clear animus toward sex workers" and "set out again to find somebody who wouldn't be missed," prosecutors argued this week in an application that, if successful, would allow the Crown to present evidence of Dunlop's 2009 killing at his upcoming murder trial.
Dunlop faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the 2023 death of Judy Maerz who, according to the Crown, suffered 79 stab wounds.
One year earlier, Dunlop had finished serving a 13-year sentence for manslaughter in the death of Laura Furlan.
Both women were vulnerable and worked in Calgary's sex trade at the time of their deaths.
'Someone who won't be missed'
After he strangled Furlan, Dunlop told undercover officers that he'd set out the night of the killing "looking for someone who wouldn't be missed," someone he could "f–k up."
The two killings happened in "startlingly similar circumstances," prosecutor Greg Piper told Court of King's Bench Justice Colin Feasby on Wednesday.
"The Crown's theory is that Mr. Dunlop set out again to find somebody who wouldn't be missed," said Piper.
This week, Piper and co-counsel Hyatt Mograbee are asking Justice Feasby to allow them to present evidence of Furlan's death at Dunlop's trial for Maerz's murder.
Defence lawyer Allan Fay is opposed to the similar-fact application. He argued there are more dissimilarities between the two killings than similarities.
Until this week, details of the Crown's pre-trial applications were protected by a publication ban because the case was set to go before a jury in June.
But on Wednesday, the lawyers on both sides signed a re-election to a judge-alone trial, which nullifies the ban.
Google searches revealed
On Aug. 29, 2009, Dunlop was recently bankrupt and angry.
He picked Furlan up at a known southwest stroll and agreed to pay her $100 for sex.
The 38-year-old had struggled with addictions but was overcoming those with "courage and a will to survive," according to Furlan's mother Kathryn.
In August 2009, Furlan had just lost her job as an administrative assistant. Kathryn Furlan, who last spoke with her daughter the day before, said Laura was worried about having enough money to pay her bills.
Dunlop strangled Furlan while having sex with her in his truck. He then dumped her body in Fish Creek Park.
A forensic analysis of Dunlop's search history from the day of Furlan's death turned up searches for "fingerprints on a dead body," "DNA test for semen" and "methods for disposing a body using fire."
Dunlop was arrested and charged three years after killing Furlan.
Vulnerable and alone
On Feb. 16, 2023, the Crown says Dunlop left his northeast home in the early morning hours, left his cellphone at home and drove to his wife's workplace.
Prosecutors say CCTV footage shows Dunlop leaving his vehicle in the parking lot and getting into his wife's SUV.
He's then accused of driving to a known stroll for sex workers in Forest Lawn.
It was 3 a.m. and Maerz, "a vulnerable, impoverished sex worker who was out on the street, alone," according to Piper, was on the stroll.
The Crown says this is where she was picked up by Dunlop and taken to Deerfoot Athletic Park.
Piper told the judge: "Our submission to you is that he sexually assaulted her and in the course of that, he killed her."
"He left and then returned to the scene shortly afterwards, burned her body with accelerant and went home afterwards."
'A return to form'
The prosecution called the crime "a return to form" for Dunlop.
Piper told Justice Feasby that it's "not a coincidence that these offences look similar."
"They are similar because they were committed by the same person and should be admissible in evidence at Mr. Dunlop's trial on that basis," said Piper.
Piper said some of the difference can be attributed to Dunlop "learning or changing up because of what got him in trouble last time."
During the application, Feasby called the evidence "highly, highly prejudicial" and pointed out the killings happened almost 15 years apart.
Feasby will give his decision on the similar-fact application next month.
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