‘I did a little prayer:’ Court sees video of suspect re-enacting child’s death

The video shows Saretzky sitting in the back of a police cruiser next to an officer and giving directions on how to get to the remote campground. It is partially owned by a member of his family, but he said he had never been there before.

A number of police vehicles were already there. An person had called police after spotting what he believed were human bones in the firepit.

“I choked her there,” Saretzky said on the video, pointing to a spot near the firepit.

CAUTION: GRAPHIC CONTENT THAT FOLLOWS MAY DISTURB SOME READERS

“And then I bled her and drank the blood, most of it. When she started bleeding, she had already passed away then.”

Saretzky said he poured the blood into a plastic bottle, which he threw into the fire along with his clothes and Hailey’s body.

A discarded yellow child’s toy can be seen on the video a couple of metres from the firepit. DNA evidence identified blood on it that was matched to Hailey.

Saretzky repeated that he ate a portion of Hailey’s heart.

“Half of it probably. Maybe a little bit more. I thought it would be healthy for me.”

Staff Sgt. Mike McCauley asked Saretzky if he had said a prayer for the little girl.

“I did a little prayer. God rest your soul … something along those lines.”

There was a brief adjournment in court when one of the jurors started sobbing and needed a break.

Saretzky has pleaded not guilty to the murders, although court has already heard that he confessed to police.

Before the noon break, McCauley was asked if he had worked on the Meketech case as well. He said he hadn’t initially, but there were a number of similarities between the deaths of Blanchette and Meketech, which led him to believe Saretzky might be a suspect in both cases.

Six months after Saretzky confessed to killing Blanchette and his daughter, McCauley interviewed him again at the Calgary Remand Centre.

In a video played for the jury, Saretzky told him he had also killed Meketech, who was a friend of his grandparents. He called it a “spur of the moment” decision.

“I didn’t really think about it, I just went ahead and did it,” Saretzky said. “I didn’t think anybody cared about her.”

Saretzky said he now regrets killing his grandparents’ friend.

“I just got motivated and went and did it. Didn’t think about how it would affect anybody else or myself or my family.”

McCauley asked if Meketech was practice for the killings of Blanchette and his daughter.

“Yeah I guess so,” he replied.

— Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

‘I did a little prayer:’ Court sees video of suspect re-enacting child’s death

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