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Vini Buecken attacked her octogenarian mother during an argument that likely began over money, Crown prosecutors claim.
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Closing statements began Thursday in Buecken’s second-degree murder trial after five weeks of testimony and legal argument.
Prosecutor Dawn MacDonald acknowledged the Crown’s case is largely circumstantial, but said the evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Buecken is responsible for the death of her mother, 85-year-old Dagmar Petersen.
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“The only reasonable inference you can conclude … is that Dagmar was killed by Vini,” she told Court of King’s Bench Justice Wayne Renke, who is hearing the case without a jury.
Petersen was found dead in her home March 5, 2022. Buecken, 66, was arrested months later. She has pleaded not guilty and sat quietly behind her lawyers during trial.
The first investigators to arrive at Petersen’s home at 4147 Ramsay Crescent encountered an unusual scene. The senior’s bloodied body lay between the foyer and the kitchen. A tray of McDonald’s coffee was spilled on the floor nearby, and purple grapes were scattered throughout the home.
Buecken herself had called 911, claiming she arrived to take her mother for breakfast and found her body.
Petersen and Buecken and were co-owners of Valo Maintenance, a longtime cleaning company in Edmonton. At the time of her mother’s death, Buecken owned 10 per cent of shares and was the company’s main employee, while Petersen owned 90 per cent and was long retired.
Buecken was facing “financial pressure,” MacDonald said, and Petersen had recently amended her will in a way that could make the eventual sale of Valo less advantageous to Buecken relative to her brother, who lived in British Columbia.
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According to the Crown’s theory of the case, Buecken visited her mother’s home March 4, 2022. They began to argue over “any number of things,” MacDonald said, suggesting money as one motive. The disagreement escalated and Buecken “attacked” her mother, bashing her repeatedly in the back of the head, the Crown claims.
Investigators could not determine the implement used to kill Petersen, though MacDonald suggested it was a beer bottle, which was discovered broken near the body. A 12-pack of Pilsner was located in the fridge with one bottle missing, and several pieces of broken glass were never located.
The Crown says Buecken then cleaned up in a nearby bathroom and scattered grapes throughout the house to add to the scene. She later left voicemails for her mother, which the Crown claims were staged to sound like Buecken did not know Petersen was dead. Buecken returned the following day and spilled her McDonald’s coffee to create the appearance of a “panicked scene,” then made a “staged and theatrical” call to 911, MacDonald said.
Other circumstantial evidence points to Buecken’s guilt, MacDonald added, including surveillance footage which placed her car at or near her mother’s home the day of the killing. Testing revealed traces of both Buecken and Petersen’s DNA on toilet paper found in the bathroom, MacDonald said, which appeared to have been “meticulously cleaned, at least to the naked eye.”
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Defence lawyer Michael Sparks is expected to begin his closing argument Dec. 10. Renke tentatively scheduled Jan. 27, 2025, as the date for his decision.
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