A young Red Deer mother was bludgeoned to death with a garden tool, according to an agreed statement of facts entered into the record on Monday when her killer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Brett Donald Jones, 20, who showed no emotion when he stood before Justice Monica Bast in Court of Queen’s Bench, also pleaded guilty to unlawful confinement and theft.
He was dressed in a long-sleeved white dress shirt that wasn’t tucked in.
Jones was originally charged with first-degree murder but a deal was struck a short time ago between the defence and the Crown.
He is expected to be sentenced on Feb. 24, following the preparation of a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric and psychological examination at the Southern Alberta Forensic Assessment Centre in Calgary.
Teagan Klein, 23, who was the mother of a three-year-old boy, was found dead in her Anders Park home on Feb. 4.
She had been killed with at least five blows from an implement described as a garden edger.
Klein was sitting in her bed in the evening after Jones returned from the attached garage with the edger.
The pair had been in a casual and often volatile relationship for about two months, said the statement, which wasn’t read aloud. They had been arguing and yelling at each other before the attack.
His first blow knocked her to the floor and Jones “brutally beat her,” inflicting at least five blows.
The edger is metal, in the shape of a crescent and usually has a 1.5-metre-long wooden handle. The sharp-edged device is generally used to edge lawns.
Klein’s son, who had been in his bedroom, came down the hall but was grabbed by Jones.
The boy was carried downstairs and punched in the face when he struggled.
Jones then put the boy in the basement but the youngster followed him up the stairs. He was grabbed by Jones and thrown down the flight of eight stairs, according to the statement of facts.
Jones then barricaded the door with furniture.
The injured boy lay on the concrete floor for more than eight hours before he was discovered standing behind the door by police.
The boy suffered a cut chin requiring seven stitches and a bruised face.
The boy, who can’t be named, is not related to Jones.
Jones then grabbed Klein’s car keys, a whiskey bottle and her bank card before fleeing.
He withdrew $20 to buy cigarettes in Red Deer before driving to Edmonton.
He phoned a female friend in Edmonton and asked to stay at her place at about 3:40 a.m. on Feb. 5.
At the woman’s residence, he told her he had “done something crazy.” He then told her he had killed someone. He also told another woman at the residence he killed someone.
Both young women didn’t think he was serious.
Jones left later for Peace River but was convinced by one of the women to return to her place, which he did.
One of the women checked out an Internet story on the murder and noticed the vehicle Jones had was mentioned as stolen in the story.
One of the women called a friend in Nova Scotia with the story and she phoned police while the two Edmonton women kept Jones at their residence until police arrived and arrested him on Feb. 6.
Jones, who is originally from Nova Scotia, remains in custody.
The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is life in jail without the possibility of making a parole bid for 10 to 25 years.
Jones admitted to police he killed Klein and participated in a videotaped re-enactment.
Both defence lawyer Alain Hepner of Calgary and the Klein family declined comment later.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com