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The Robert Badgerow murder trial finally got underway in Kitchener Wednesday. The former Dofasco steelworker is accused of the strangulation, drowning and sexual assault of Diane Werendowicz in Stoney Creek in 1981. It’s an unprecedented fourth trial for the same offense; Badgerow’s first trials were overturned after appeals and hung juries.

This case was supposed to start Monday, but legal issues delayed the process. The judge didn’t explain those issues to the jury, but first thing this morning he discharged one juror and told the others they were now a jury of 13, with no alternates. He also told them only 12 of them would decide the verdict at the end of the trial.

Hamilton Crown Cheryl Gzik has been involved in the case since she first became a lawyer, she started today with this quote: “she was raped before she was killed, and she was strangled with her purse.” Gzik told the jury that only the killer would know those facts and he called 911 to brag two days after dumping Werendowicz face down, still breathing, in a creek, with a tire on her shoulders and head. She said the call was traced back to a phone booth at Dofasco, steps away from where Robert Badgerow was working at the time. But the case remained cold until the late 1990s when DNA science had advanced. Then police learned that Robert Badgerow’s DNA was inside Werendowicz’s body and in the unzipped jeans she was wearing.

After the crown’s opening we heard from officers who were on the case back in 1981, including the retired officer who was called to Stoney Creek when some children came across the body. He was the first officer on scene. The jurors recoiled and several of them were unable to look when images of Werendowicz’ body were shown. The officer is due back for cross examination by Badgerow’s lawyers in the morning.