Calgary man who killed again shortly after release handed automatic life sentence
Christopher Ward Dunlop was found guilty of the 2023 murder of sex-trade worker Judy Maerzp, 50, who had been stabbed 79 times and set on fire.
Article content
A Calgary man convicted of first-degree murder in the 2023 death of a sex trade worker — three years after being released from prison for a similar killing — was handed an automatic life sentence by a judge on Monday.
Christopher Ward Dunlop, 51, was found guilty of first-degree murder earlier this month in the death of 58-year-old Judy Maerz, whose charred remains were found by a passerby in the Deerfoot Athletic Park in the city’s northeast on the morning of Feb. 16, 2023. She had been stabbed 79 times and her body was later set on fire.
Recommended Videos
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Calgary man who killed again shortly after release handed automatic life sentence Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“I don’t know why you do these things . . . this is the second one,” Court of King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby said while addressing Dunlop during his sentencing hearing on Monday. “I don’t know how you make peace with yourself, but you’re going to have a long time to do that.”
The automatic life sentence means Dunlop will not be eligible for parole for 25 years minus time served pre-trial. The judge also handed Dunlop a five-year sentence to be served concurrently in relation to a count of causing indignity to a body, the maximum that can be imposed for that offence.
Judy Maerz was ‘a mother, a grandmother and a friend,’ Crown tells court
In her submissions, Crown prosecutor Hyatt Mograbee said Maerz was “a mother, a grandmother and a friend,” and noted the victim’s two adult children were among the first on scene at the park after Maerz was killed.
“They were visibly concerned, asking questions, attempting to understand what happened to their mother,” Mograbee said. “Ms. Maerz’ absence will be felt, in both significant life events and in the quiet moments of everyday living.
“This was a shocking and brazen murder, the impacts of which are felt beyond her family and friends,” Mograbee added.
During the three-week trial, Crown prosecutors Mograbee and Greg Piper argued the killing of Maerz bore similarities to the 2009 killing of 38-year-old Laura Furlan, a sex trade worker who was strangled by Dunlop on Aug. 25, 2009 at Deerfoot Athletic Park, the same park where he would take Maerz’ life 14 years later.
He later dumped Furlan’s body in Fish Creek Provincial Park. Her badly decomposed body was found by a passerby two weeks after she’d been killed.
Dunlop pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of Furlan and was sentenced in 2015 to 13 years in prison. After time served was credited, his remaining prison stint was reduced to 6½ years. Dunlop was released from prison in April 2020.
“Mr. Dunlop learned from this crime the first time and he tried again to cover his tracks and conceal evidence,” Mograbee told the court Monday.
Defence lawyer Allan Fay told the court his client would be “an old man” by the time he’s eligible for parole.
Dunlop, wearing a white collared shirt and glasses, sat attentively in the prisoner’s box throughout the hearing.
While Fay noted his client would not be making a statement, Justice Feasby still presented Dunlop with the opportunity to address the court.
“I decline, sir,” Dunlop told the judge.
‘I don’t know how you make peace with yourself,’ judge tells Dunlop
Addressing the court, Justice Feasby described struggling to “put into words something that appropriately expresses the heinous nature of this crime.”
“What was done to Ms. Maerz was shocking . . . horrific,” he said.
Following a weeks-long trial last month, Feasby ruled Dunlop left his house the morning of Feb. 16, 2023 with intent to kill, finding the death of Judy Maerz was a planned and deliberate act that also likely occurred in the course of a sexual assault.
The brutal stabbing of Maerz occurred shortly after 3 a.m. on Feb. 16, after Dunlop had picked her up in Forest Lawn and drove her to Deerfoot Athletic Park.
The judge previously said the fact Dunlop would have left his residence that morning with the sharp-edged weapon he used to slash and stab Maerz, as well as the jerrycan of gasoline he later used to douse her remains and set them on fire, was further proof the killing was well thought out.
Mother of Dunlop’s first victim attends hearing
Among those in the court gallery at Dunlop’s sentencing was Laura Furlan’s mother, Kathryn Furlan.
Speaking to reporters after the sentencing, Furlan said she attended the hearing to advocate for her daughter, “who was killed at the hands of Christopher Dunlop.”
“I wanted to be here to see justice served,” she said.
After seeing Dunlop taken away to serve a prison sentence for the second time, Furlan commended Calgary police and the Crown prosecutors on their handling of Maerz’ case.
“It was really hard to see (Dunlop) again, but I’ve been following him since he was first incarcerated. I never stopped following him until he got out of prison,” she said. “My biggest issue is that he got out too soon.
“You wanna commit a crime, come to Canada,” she added. “I’m just glad this is over. I can put this behind me.”
— With files from Kevin Martin
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.