‘Not surprised’: Mother of 2009 homicide victim angered by killer’s latest murder charges

“I was shocked but not exactly surprised,” said Furlan, whose 38-year-old daughter Laura was strangled to death by Christopher Ward Dunlop on August 25, 2009.

“I attended his early parole hearings and here we are again.”

On Thursday, Calgary Police announced the arrest of 48-year-old Dunlop in the February 16 killing of 58-year-old Judy Maerz, whose body was found at Deerfoot Athletic Park.

He is charged with second-degree murder and the humiliation of the woman’s body set on fire.

Dunlop made a brief visit to court on Thursday and was remanded in custody ahead of his next court appearance on Monday.

Dunlop was released from custody in April 2020

Just before police publicly announced Dunlop’s arrest, Furlan said they informed them of the charges on Thursday.

“I can’t say enough about the Calgary Police Department, they looked after me for years, they checked me out,” she said, adding that initially it never occurred to her that Dunlop was a suspect in the murder of would be March.

But Furlan said the gratitude almost stops there, though she says prosecutors did their best in her daughter’s case, even as Dunlop’s first-degree murder charge was reduced to manslaughter and offered an outrage to a corpse in a plea deal.

Laura’s naked, badly decomposed body was found two weeks after her death by a man walking his dog in Fish Creek Provincial Park.

In December 2015, Dunlop was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty – but due to three years on remand he received double counting, reducing his remaining sentence to 6 1/2 years.

He left the Bowden Institution in April 2020, while his terms of release, which included avoiding alcohol and no contact with his victim’s family, expired in June last year, Calgary Police say.

Noting that he had spent no more than eight years on remand and in prison for the death of their daughter, Furlan said he might have tasted freedom sooner.

“He would have been out sooner but he was unrepentant,” she said, adding that he was twice denied parole.

The correction system is misguided, overly forgiving, says Furlan

Despite this, Furlan said that Dunlop was viewed as a model prisoner who secured his release before his full sentence was served.

He had taken mandatory anger management courses in a correctional system she described as misguided and overly forgiving.

“It’s ridiculous, (his early release) shouldn’t have happened at all. . . He treated my daughter like dirt. She had a purpose in life,” Furlan said.

“It’s just our penal system – it’s really about rehabilitation and not punishment. . . he made everything about himself, it was “poor me”. ”

Officials at the Parole Board of Canada could not verify any of the details provided by Furlan.

However, a risk assessment at the time indicated that Dunlop had a low to moderate risk of recidivism.

“It is reported that you have accepted full responsibility for your crimes,” said a preliminary report. “It appears that you have the motivation to continue to maintain necessary behavior changes to lower your risk.

“The clinician reported that you admitted that a significant risk factor for you was feelings of rejection or exploitation.”

Dunlop’s neighbors were aware of his criminal history

Like Laura Furlan, Maerz’s body was dumped in a city park, allegedly by a man who didn’t know either victim.

The cause of Maerz’s death was withheld by the city police on investigative grounds, and investigators say they are unable to provide a motive.

Furlan was working as a sex worker at the time of her death, although family members say that fateful day was the first time she had done so.

Police say there are similarities in the cases and that they feared for the safety of Calgarians when Maerz’s body was discovered, spurring them to work around the clock to make an arrest.

They did just that on Wednesday, picking up Dunlop at his home on the 300 block of Eldorado Place NE, where neighbors say he lived with his wife.

Some of those neighbors said they knew who Dunlop was, adding they saw police tow away two vehicles from the suspect’s home.

A woman who lived a few doors down shivered after being told he had been charged with another murder.

On Thursday, CPS Homicide Staff Sgt. Sean Gregson declined to comment directly on how police view the fact that Dunlop was allegedly free to kill again.

“Any time we have to speak to a family member who has lost a loved one, it’s hard on investigators and devastating on the family,” he said.

“There is never a right time.”

“I don’t want anything to do with this guy anymore”

Police have not checked whether Dunlop could be linked to other crimes, Gregson said.

“With the amount of evidence and work that we’ve put into the Maerz case over the last two weeks, that was our only focus at the moment,” he said.

Furlan said she has spent almost the past three years fearing encountering Dunlop on the road.

The woman said she has thrown away all parole and correction documents related to Dunlop and will not attend his upcoming court hearing.

“I don’t want anything to do with that guy anymore,” she said.

“I absolutely can’t go through that again.”

-with files from CP