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He said he listened to the story several times because he was “confused” about the message but eventually concluded he was being told to go and kill someone.

“I was supposed to go and kill Mary,” he told the judge.

Almestadi said he got a steak knife that he had purchased and kept in his room and went to look for Mary Hare but could not find her. He had only met her briefly once before, outside the Salish House residence where both students lived.

He said he saw two guys who were saying to each other that if “Plan A” didn’t work out, they should go to “Plan B” and that the conversation between the two men was somehow linked to his math professor.

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Almestadi said he went up to the third floor of the residence, where Hare resided, and saw her name tag on the room.

He said that Hare’s description of the attack, in which she said he attacked her with the knife and tried to choke her when she opened her door, was accurate.

“I remember she opened the door and I said, ‘Hi,’ and smiled and I attacked her,” Almestadi said under cross-examination.

He admitted that he tried to cut the victim in the throat with his knife and that the attack continued until other students rushed to help Hare.

“The only reason you stopped choking her was because people came to her aid,” said Crown counsel Daniel Porte.

“Yes,” replied Almestadi.

Later, after he’d been arrested and was being interviewed by police, he told police he wanted to see Mary.

“I wanted to make sure she was still alive. I realized I made a mistake.”