Jealousy, obsession led to Leflar murder: statement of facts

Hannah Leflar – an honour roll student with a perfect attendance at Thom Collegiate – told an ex-boyfriend to leave her alone, months before he killed her.

That’s one of the troubling details from an agreed statement of facts from the Crown and the defence that details the months and days leading up to Leflar’s murder in January 2015.

It provides a small window into who Leflar was: a good student, socially active with many friends, who split time between her mother and stepfather’s house, and her father and stepmother’s.

However, the document mostly paints a disturbing picture of one of the killers – neither of whom can be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in April 2016. This week, at a sentencing hearing in Regina, the Crown is arguing he should be sentenced as an adult.  A second teen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February 2017. 

Leflar dated the teen who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder from October 2013 until May 2014. The agreed statement of facts indicates it was the first serious relationship for both of them, but when Leflar ended the relationship the boy had a hard time moving on.

Project Zombify

In early October 2014, the teen hatched a plan to hurt – or even kill – Leflar’s new boyfriend, dubbing the plan “Project Zombify”. It involved friends of his luring Leflar and her new boyfriend to the “attack zone” behind a north Regina elementary school.

The teen and two friends would be waiting there to attack the new boyfriend. While Leflar wasn’t the target of the attack, the teen said, had she been in the “attack zone” or tried to interfere, she would have been “collateral damage”. A contingency plan included using chloroform, which the teen was unable to get, to “knock her out” — he bought paint thinner to use instead.

According to the agreed statement of facts, as the teen developed this plan – to be carried out on Oct. 31, 2014 – he also began to collect weapons, including baseball bats and knives. He also bought masks to hide their identities and covered an old pair of shoes with duct tape to make any footprints left behind unidentifiable.

But Project Zombify never happened, as Leflar broke up with the boyfriend targeted in the plan. 

In subsequent months, the teen tried to convince Leflar they should get back together, contacting her frequently over Facebook Messenger and XBox. The agreed statement of facts said, “At no time did the victim invite this contact, nor encourage it.” It goes on to say Leflar did everything she could to make it clear to the teen she wanted nothing to do with him – and told him to leave her alone and move on.

The teen also had friends keep tabs on Leflar. One went as far as signing up for the same driver training class as her, sitting where he could watch her, to report back to the teen. The teen told that friend to reestablish a dormant friendship with her to obtain information about her personal life and general whereabouts – all to be relayed back to the teen. That friend agreed and rekindled his friendship with Leflar, hanging out with her and her boyfriend on one occasion.

January 2015

After seeing Leflar’s posts and photos about new boyfriend on Facebook, the teen realized he’d never get back to her, and in the early hours of Jan. 12, decided he’d kill her that day.

The agreed statement of facts said the teen messaged one friend to bring a knife to school, but that the friend claims he did not receive the message until at least one hour after Leflar was killed. He also said he was not made aware of the teen’s desire to kill Leflar.

When that friend didn’t respond, the teen messaged another friend who responded “OK.”

The two took steps to make sure Leflar was home alone after school. Despite being puzzled by the invitation, Leflar met with the friend over lunch.

Leflar left the exchange visibly confused, according to the agreed statement of facts. She told her friend he’d wanted to hang out with her at her home after school – just the two of them. This made Leflar suspicious, even sending a message to her current boyfriend that she thought it was “random for him to ask to hang out” and “there’s something sketchy about it I don’t trust him.”

Leflar’s instincts would prove correct.

At 2:50 that afternoon, the teen picked up his friend in his father’s truck. They drove to Leflar’s north Regina house, parking in front and slouching down to remain out of sight. They remained there until after 3:30, when Leflar arrived home.

The teen, armed with a buck knife, entered the home after Leflar did. The agreed statement of facts states he was wearing latex work gloves, dark jeans, a camouflage jacket and a face warmer with a respirator around his neck.

As he entered the home, Leflar screamed and attempted to run away, falling to the floor as she entered the master bedroom. The teen then stabbed her several times, with the last wound to the back of her head.

As he left the home, the teen grabbed Leflar’s cellphone. He’d give it – and his knife – to his friend to store before eventually attempting to hide both.

During the murder, the teen stabbed himself in his left hand. He’d later a tell friend he hurt himself hunting. After the murder, he told his brother what he’d done to Leflar and how his brother shouldn’t end up like him.

The teen hid the knife on an abandoned farmyard near his father’s home. A few hours later, police showed up at his home and arrested him for Leflar’s murder.