The ex-husband of Tatjana Stefanski has been found guilty of her 2024 murder, in a killing that left a rural British Columbia village in a state of fear when he was initially arrested then released on conditions.
Vitali Stefanski, who was convicted of second-degree murder, had told the B.C. Supreme Court jury in Kamloops that his ex-wife stabbed herself in his car.
In a closing statement, he said her death was “like a suicide.”
But the jury returned its unanimous verdict on Friday, the day after receiving instructions from Justice Bradford Smith.
After the verdict, Smith asked the jury members for their recommendations on parole eligibility.
He urged them to consider three factors in making their recommendation, including Stefanski’s character, the nature of the offence and the circumstances “surrounding the commission of the offence.”
Stefanski faces a mandatory life sentence, although the period before eligibility for parole, which must be a minimum of 10 years, has yet to be determined.
“You are not required to make a recommendation, but if you do, your recommendation will be considered by me,” the judge said.
Tatjana Stefanski’s body was found with numerous stab wounds off a rural forest service road near the village of Lumby, B.C., in April 2024.
The trial heard a bent and bloodied knife nearby had the DNA of both Tatjana and Vitali Stefanski, while police testified that he emerged shoeless from the forest and confessed to the killing before gesturing in the direction of the body.
Stefanski had been represented by a lawyer for much of the trial, but jurors were told last week he would be representing himself, including for Thursday’s closing arguments.
He denied confessing to police along the forest road.
“I never said that,” Stefanski said on Thursday.
The judge urged the jurors to use common sense when deliberating about the alleged confession, saying they “must decide whether you believe Mr. Stefanski made the statements or any part of them.”
The accused had also denied dumping his ex-wife’s body, instead saying she “slipped” from his grasp by the road, and he wasn’t sure if she was dead at the time.
Stefanski, who had two children with his ex-wife, was arrested in the forest on April 14, 2024, the day after the woman disappeared.
He was later freed with conditions and it was not until more than a month later, on May 31, that he was charged with murder and taken into custody again.
Residents of Lumby, a community of about 2,000 people in the hills of the North Okanagan in B.C.’s Interior, had spoken of living in fear after the arrest.
Crown lawyer Laura Drake told the jury in her closing arguments on Wednesday that the only reasonable conclusion from the evidence was that Stefanski stabbed his ex-wife to death, and his explanation of events was inconsistent with common sense.
The court had heard Tatjana Stefanski was stabbed in the chest seven times, injuring her heart and lungs, leading to her death.
The trial heard she also suffered multiple “sharp-force injuries” to her arms and legs and wounds to her hands that a pathologist, Dr. Eric Bol, said were consistent with “defensive-type” injuries.
Stefanski denied inflicting any of the injuries both during his testimony and again in his closing statements.
He testified at trial that on the morning of April 13, 2024, his ex-wife had approached him at her home with a bloody nose, and they drove away together in his black Audi.
He said he then discovered she had been stabbed with his own fishing knife and testified he “did everything” to get her help, explaining that he drove in the opposite direction from the nearest hospital because of the way his car was parked.
