HALIFAX — Two people have pleaded guilty in Nova Scotia to murder in the death of Loretta Saunders, a young Inuit woman killed last year.
Blake Leggette pleaded guilty today in the province’s Supreme Court to first-degree murder and will be sentenced to an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
Victoria Henneberry has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, which carries a life sentence and no parole eligibility of between 10 and 25 years.
Saunders’ body was found in a wooded area off a New Brunswick highway two weeks after she disappeared from her Halifax apartment in February 2014.
The 26-year-old woman was a student at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.
The trial of Leggette and Henneberry was expected to begin today with opening arguments from the Crown after a jury was selected, more than a year after they were arrested in Ontario and brought to Nova Scotia to face the charges.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for next Wednesday, where victim impact statements are expected to be delivered.