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Legebokoff admits having murder victim's cellphone

A cellular phone police found in Cody Legebokoff's possession was used by the teenage girl he's accused of murdering, the court heard Wednesday when a statement of admissions was read into the record.

A cellular phone police found in Cody Legebokoff's possession was used by the teenage girl he's accused of murdering, the court heard Wednesday when a statement of admissions was read into the record.

The phone was discovered in Legebokoff's shorts at the time he was arrested on the night of Nov. 27, 2010, shortly after the body of Loren Donn Leslie, 15, was found in a secluded area off Highway 27 between Vanderhoof and Fort St. James, the court has heard in previous testimony.

A statement of admissions sets out allegations the accused admits as facts proven without testimony.

According to the statement, Legebokoff has also admitted that another cellphone, seized from the dashboard of his pickup truck, was used by him to exchange text messages with Leslie.

A document was provided to the jury as part of the statement as a true and accurate account of their conversations through the social media site Nexopia and text messages.

Legebokoff has also admitted to buying a four-pack of Kahlua Mudslides, a four-pack of White Russians and a pack of cigarettes from a cold beer and wine store in Vanderhoof at 8:20 p.m. on the same night Leslie's body was found.

Crown prosecution is alleging the two met through Nexopia, Leslie using the handle "baathesheep" and Legebokoff using "onecountryboy" with Legebokoff initiating a conversation with Leslie on Nov. 10, 2010.

Further conversations occurred on Nov. 22, 23, 25 and 26, 2010 through Nexopia while they started to exchange text messages and, on Nov. 27, 2010 between 6:04 p.m. and 8:23 p.m. during which Leslie invited Legebokoff to meet her at McLeod Elementary School in Vanderhoof.

Legebokoff also urged her to not tell anyone and, in response, Leslie said "well, we're just hanging out right?, nothing sexual."

A Fort St. James RCMP officer pulled Legebokoff over at 9:35 p.m. after seeing his pickup truck turn onto Highway 27 from a rarely-used road without slowing down and then continuing on at above the speed limit.

When blood was found on Legebokoff and in his truck, a conservation officer was called in to conduct an investigation into suspected poaching. When the conservation officer found Leslie's body at about midnight, Legebokoff was arrested on a charge of murder.

Police handling of evidence continued to be a theme in other testimony Wednesday. When cutouts of a carpet and a couch with suspected blood on them were taken from Legebokoff's apartment, a brand-new and unused box cutter was used in each case, the court heard.

In addition to Leslie, Legebokoff, now 24, is also facing first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Jill Stacey Stuchenko, 35, Cynthia Frances Maas, 35, and Natasha Lynn Montgomery, 23.