Pelly Crossing sisters plead guilty to 2nd-degree murder, indignity to a body in 2017 death of Derek Edwards
CBC
Warning: This story contains graphic details some readers may find disturbing
Two Pelly Crossing sisters have entered pleas in the 2017 murder of Derek Edwards, with one admitting to stabbing the 39-year-old and shooting him with a compound bow following a night of heavy drinking.
Charabelle Silverfox pleaded guilty in a Whitehorse courtroom Monday morning to one count of second-degree murder , while her sister, Lynzee Silverfox, pleaded guilty to indignity to a body.
The sisters were both originally charged with a count each of first-degree murder, unlawful confinement and indignity to a body in relation to Edwards' death.
Their pleas came on what was scheduled to be the first day of a five-week-long jury trial. Hundreds of potential jurors were dismissed shortly after gathering at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre for jury duty.
According to agreed statements of facts read in court by Crown attorney Leo Lane, Charabelle and Lynzee, who were 26 and 19 at the time, spent the late afternoon and evening of Dec. 12, 2017, drinking alcohol, including during a trip to Mayo to buy more liquor and then at two homes in Pelly Crossing.
After Charabelle got into a disagreement with someone at the second home, the sisters — accompanied by Edwards and Lynzee's boyfriend, Vance Cardinal — returned to Charabelle's house in the early hours of Dec. 13.
They continued drinking vodka there; Cardinal and Lyznee got into an argument and went to a back bedroom, where they fell asleep, while Charabelle and Edwards remained in the living room.
The exact sequence of subsequent events, based on court documents, are unclear.
According to Charabelle's agreed statement of facts, she awoke to Edwards trying to pull down her pants and screamed to Lynzee and Cardinal that Edwards was trying to sexually assault her.
A "violent altercation" then happened in the living room and basement, with Cardinal and Charabelle inflicting injuries on Edwards. Charabelle admitted to stabbing Edwards in the chest and shooting arrows into his head using a compound bow.
However, a separate agreed statement of facts for Cardinal, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to assaulting Edwards — a fact that was under publication ban until the Silverfox sisters' matter was resolved — states Cardinal was in the living room when Charabelle and Edwards, who were sitting on a couch, got into a "verbal argument."
The document says Charabelle got on top of Edwards and punched him while he was still on the couch; the two then stood up, and as Edwards was winding up to punch Charabelle, Cardinal grabbed him and punched him once. Edwards punched back and Cardinal punched him again twice, causing him to fall to the ground.
Charabelle continued to assault Edwards and hit him with an ashtray, according to the document, and Cardinal then saw her and Lynzee drag Edwards into the basement.
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