CONTENT WARNING: This story contains descriptions of violence
Before he died, St. Albert senior Ron Worsfold suffered a beating so violent it fractured his skull, but he bled to death from a killing stab wound to his left abdomen on July 7, 2017.
Three weeks into the first-degree murder trial of St. Albert resident Beryl Musila, 33, medical examiner Bernard Bannach described the unusual start to the autopsy he conducted on the victim the morning of July 11, 2017.
“The body was not in a body bag, as they normally come to the office, but the body was contained in Rubbermaid tote container with silver tape,” he said.
He opened the tote and removed a multi-coloured comforter and afghan, as well as a white towel.
Beneath those, Worsfold’s nude body was bent at the waist in the two-foot-by-four-foot container. The victim weighed 128 pounds, and was 5’7” tall.
“There was no clothing on the body,” Bannach said.
“The wrists were handcuffed together.”
The ankles were bound with silver tape, and the victim was wearing a wristwatch and a yellow metal chain, he said.
Noting the autopsy photos were taken when the body was in a decompositional state, Bannach warned the jurors that as seen in the images, Worsfold’s body was “not fresh.”
Reddening observed on the victim’s back was due to post-mortem “lividity” where blood pooled after blood stopped circulating. The part of Worsfold’s naked back that was closest to the blue edge of the tub showed post-mortem lividity, gravity from being on his back for between six to twelve hours following his death.
“He was on his back for a period of time (that would allow lividity) before he was put in the tote,” Bannach said.
There were a number of post-mortem changes going on in the body, Bannach testified.
The outer and middle layers of skin had begun to separate, and there were signs of blistering and skin “slippage” related to decomposition and bacterial action.
He said it appeared post-mortem rigidity was minimally present to absent, and that it had occurred and was going away as decomposition advanced.
Worsfold had three lacerations from blunt force trauma, places where the scalp had split from the force of the blow.
One of the blows to a spot near the back of the left ear, fractured his skull.
“It’s my opinon the blunt injuries occurred prior to death,” he said.
“The bleeding suggests blood pressure, a beating heart.”
There was bleeding around all the wound tracks, so Worsfold’s heart was still beating at the time they were inflicted, he said.
There were three stab wounds on Worsfold’s body, he said. One, on the right side of Worsfold’s neck, was about 1.6 cm in length. It missed major arteries, ending behind the right side of the thyroid cartilage or “Adam’s apple.”
Another stab wound on the front upper left chest, below the collarbone, went to a depth of six centimetres; it didn’t penetrate the chest cavity, nor did it involve major blood vessels.
The fatal stab wound was a thrust that went over 9 centimetres into Worsfold’s lower abdomen, to the left of the belly button. It punctured two loops of his lower bowel, then went through tissue to slice 60 per cent through his left ileac artery, which runs from the aorta down into the left leg.
That cut was a deadly bleeder, in an area of the body where, even if first aid were administered, it couldn’t readily be applied, Bannach said.
“A person could survive minutes, or up to an hour,” he said.
In all three stab wounds, one end of the wound was sharp, the other blunt, the medical examiner said.
“This is important … the most common thing producing a wound like that is a single-edged knife,” Bannach said.
The photos showed the deceased had two “black eyes.”
Defendant Musila, who is self-represented at her own trial after firing six attorneys in almost as many years, cross-examined Bannach on that point.
“My question is, could the black eyes we saw in the pictures be as a result of a fight between two individuals before the death?” she asked.
Bannach said they could have. “(A black eye) doesn’t necessarily mean a direct blow to the eye socket, but it can,” he said.
Crown prosecutor Patricia Hankinson asked Bannach if anything else could cause two “black eyes.”
An impact higher up on the scalp would have resulted in blood tracking down to the eye sockets, he explained.
A post-mortem abrasion was noted on the midline of the victim’s lower back. It occurred post-mortem as there was no bleeding into it, because there had been no blood pressure. Instead, it was yellow orange where a layer of fat showed through Worsfeld’s skin.
Bannach noted signs that pointed to Worsfold’s age of 75—moderate blockage of the arteries or atherosclerosis; also, typically enlarged prostate. His lungs showed a moderage amount of black pigment that could occur from an occupation in carbon or coal, smoking or even city living.
A toxicologist took samples of Worsfold’s blood, and is expected to testify to the results during the trial.
Forensic specialist Christy Sanderson testified at length. Among her mulitiple findings, she said using DNA samples taken from Worsfold’s body and from Musila under warrant, both the victim and the suspect were possible contributors to the DNA material taken from the silver duct tape used to bind Worsfold’s ankles.
She concluded Robert Rafters and Tyler Fisher were not contributors to that mix.
Amicus attorney Greg Worobec, appointed by the court not to defend Musila but to ensure that she receives a fair trial, cross-examined Sanderson, asking who makes the decision about which exhibits to test.
The first point of contact is Forensic Intake in Ottawa, where the agency or investigator would filled out a C414 form, providing a brief summary, and a list of evidence. An ensuing conversation between the Forensic Assessment Centre and the investigator would help determine. Not every swab could be tested, but in a larger investigation with multiple scenes and multiple exhibits, investigators would consider which evidence would be most probative, but the FAC ultimately makes the decision, Sanderson said.
She said known samples were gathered from suspect Beryl Musila (with a warrant) and Musila’s boyfriend of four months Robert Rafters (voluntarily) and Taylor Fisher, the subject of her brief encounter early on July 8, 2017 (voluntarily). With the exception of those samples, and exhibits taken from the victim Ron Worsfold, the remainder of exhibits tested for DNA came from the makeshift dumpsite crime scene.
Sanderson testified to the extensive protocols used to safeguard testing and custody of DNA.
DNA taken from blood-stained scissors, duct tape, and plastic bags matched the accused, with the odds of an unrelated random match measuring one in 2.4 quadrillion, with a quadrillion being a one followed by 18 zeroes.
Prosecutors allege that after visiting an Edmonton adult video store with Ron Worsfold and bringing items for him to purchase on the evening of July 7, 2017, Musila drugged him, then beat and stabbed him to death.
Fisher, a neighbour in the building at 75 Mission Avenue where Musila had lived with her two children, prior to moving her things into Worsfold’s guest room, testified that he first met her when she was crying in the parking lot in the wee hours of July 8, 2017, and that their brief encounter included alcohol, cocaine and sex.
Jurors heard that Saturday, July 8, 2017, Musila had a number of visitors bringing her containers and totes for her belongings as she cleaned the apartment and moved her things out, including a large blue two-feet-by-four-feet blue Rubbermaid tote wrapped with duct tape.
According to testimony, blocked from leaving in Worsfold’s car, she lugged the duct-taped blue tote down the stairs of the apartment and it was then loaded into a taxi van, along with other containers and a suitcase.
Still on that Saturday, Musila and her things were transported to several places in St. Albert, Edmonton, Morinville and finally a party at a home at 51223 Range Road 264 in rural Parkland County, where the things were moved from the garage to a makeshift dumpsite on the property. With each transfer, Musila enlisted the help of others to relocate, and to hoist the heavy tote, jurors heard.
On Sunday, July 9, 2017, one of the rural house party attendees called the police after a glimpse of the contents of the tote aroused his suspicion.
At the beginning of the trial, Musila pleaded guilty to a charge of indecently interfering with Worsfold’s remains. She pleaded not guilty to the first degree murder charge in connection with his death.
The trial in Justice Larry Ackerl’s Court of King’s Bench is expected to last another three weeks.
