Article content

LETHBRIDGE — It took jurors three hours Wednesday to convict Derek Saretzky of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of a little girl, her dad and an unrelated senior.

The six-man, six-woman Court of Queen’s Bench jury found Saretzky planned and deliberated the Sept. 14, 2015, killings of Terry Blanchette, 27, in his Blairmore home and Hanne Meketech, 69, five days earlier in her Coleman residence.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Jury finds Derek Saretzky guilty of three counts of first-degree murder Back to video

Saretzky, 24, was also found guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of Blanchette’s daughter, two-year-old Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, but it wasn’t clear if jurors found her killing was a planned and deliberate act, or a murder committed in the course of a kidnapping.

Earlier, Justice William Tilleman told jurors they could conclude Saretzky was guilty of first-degree murder in Hailey’s death in either of those ways.

Saretzky admitted abducting the toddler from her father’s home after he had entered the residence in the dead of night and clubbed Blanchette with a crowbar.