Michael Kelly says he believes a biker gang killed Judie Thibault.
The court on Friday watched a video from Sept. 26, 2009 when Kelly, charged with the first-degree murder of Thibault, met with an undercover OPP officer.
The officer was posing as a man dying of cancer, and intended to lead Kelly into believe that he was willing to confess to Thibault’s murder for a cut of an insurance policy.
The Crown showed several videos from Project Wolf, a sting operation conducted by the OPP to gather evidence from Kelly to connect him to the 2000 disappearance and death of Thibault.
The videos showed OPP Det.-Sgt. Robert Debellefeuille, posing as a private investigator working on behalf of the Royal Bank of Canada to track down recipients of life-insurance policies, meeting with Kelly on a couple of occasions in Grand Prairie, Alta., in 2009 to discuss a supposed life-insurance policy from Thibault that was to be paid to Kelly in the amount of $500,000.
Debellefeuille told Kelly the policy was never paid out to him because he was a person of interest in Thibault’s murder.
He then said he knew a man, dying of cancer, who would be willing to confess to the crime. The dying man’s confession would allow Kelly to get the alleged insurance policy money, in exchange Kelly would share a portion of that cash.
Det. Sgt. Donald Millson played the part of Donnie, the man dying of pancreatic cancer, who was said to be willing to confess.
When he sat down with Kelly to get details of the murder to make the story sound realistic, Kelly said at least three times he didn’t kill Thibault.
“For the insurance money, I need someone to ‘fess up,” Kelly said.
Kelly told Millson that he believed a biker gang was responsible for her death because she was trying to make a deal with them to mule drugs.
“I know she was trying to do deal with them” Kelly said in the video.
When pressed for details, Kelly said from the autopsy photos shown to him by the OPP, he believed Thibault was killed by a .22-calibre rifle gunshot in the back of the head.
Kelly also spoke about how Thibault always carried a lot of money on her and she always wore jewelry.
He added that he found her rings hidden in the house after she went missing and handed a ring to Millson.
“You can hang onto that for proof,” Kelly said, adding he thought about pawning the ring, but it was too original-looking.
Millson said he didn’t have enough details to confess; there were too many questions he didn’t have answers for.
“I don’t know who did it, so I can’t tell you. Simple as that,” Kelly replied.
Millson again said he didn’t have enough of the details and he needed time to think about it.
The trial continues Monday with more video from Project Wolf.
