Arrest made in Laura Szendrei murder case
Posted Feb 21, 2011 03:53:58 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DELTA (NEWS1130) – An 18-year-old man has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Laura Szendrei. She was killed in North Delta’s Mackie Park last September.
Delta Police Sgt. Sharlene Brooks says it’s difficult to answer whether it was a random or targeted attack, but they believe the killer knew who Szendrei was or acted on opportunity.
“Although I think today there is going to be a sense of relief in the community, I also think there is going to be some sense of distress knowing this individual is from our own community.” The accused was arrested Sunday morning near the Delta-Surrey border.
Family and students react
Szendrei’s parents let out a cheer when police made the announcement.
“Today we are here with mixed emotions. We feel the depth of loss, grief and heartbreak, but for the first time we also have some relief. We know this road is far from over and there will be many more hills to climb as we have to continually deal with the fact that someone took our Laura’s life. Today we face the reality that Laura will not be in her room… she won’t be at school, or at the soccer field. She’s simply not coming back,” says Szendrei’s mom Rachel.
Mike, Laura’s dad, reveals that he had doubts about the investigation. “At the beginning, I honestly didn’t think the police would come through. My wife and daughter Sarah are thankful for all that police have done for us.”
Chelsea Jewell is friends with Laura’s older sister. “My younger sister goes to her school, and we were walking her to school the week after. In the days after, it was terrible — the feeling in the school, the feeling of the friends, even at my house and my parents,” she recalls. She calls the news of the arrest “amazing.”
Students at Sands Secondary, which is next to the crime scene, are also relieved to hear an arrest has been made. Seventeen-year-old Taylor says it’s disturbing to hear someone around her age has been arrested. “It’s affected more of her friends that went to my school rather than everyone else. From what I hear everybody saying, she was just a normal teenaged girl that loved her life and lived.”
Accused makes his first appearance in court
The teenager, who cannot be named because he was 17 years old at the time of the crime, cried and stared directly at the floor during his first court appearance in Surrey on Monday.
“I’d like to rip his head off but there’s nothing I can do,” Mike Szendrei commented upon seeing the accused in court.
Crown prosecutor Wendy Stephen says the teenager will stay in custody. “Crown filed a notice to seek an adult sentence,” she points out.
“It’s not surprising and relatively predictable that Crown would seek to have an adult sentence imposed in this particular case,” observes News1130 legal analyst Michael Shapray. He says it will take a while before we know if the teenager will be tried as an adult.
Delta Police’s Sharlene Brooks says the nearly 500 tips that have come in have been huge help in the investigation.
A memorial still sits at the site of where Szendrei was found badly beaten.
