‘I hope you remember her beautiful face’: Mother addresses man who killed daughter in Calgary stabbing

Michael Adenyi has been found guilty of the first-degree murder of Vanessa Ladouceur, and the victim's mother delivered a powerful message in court Thursday.

It was a highly emotional day in court for the mother of Vanessa Ladouceur, who addressed Michael Adenyi, the man who stabbed her daughter to death in a random attack in Calgary’s Beltline three years ago.

A jury found Adenyi, 29, guilty of first-degree murder last month in the death of Ladouceur, 30, on March 18, 2022.

He was captured on surveillance video around 6:30 a.m. following the woman for roughly two blocks while she walked to work at a fitness facility along 10th Avenue S.E. before tackling her into an alcove.

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She was stabbed eight times in 11 seconds with a large kitchen knife, with many blows to her head and neck.

“The fact you, Michael, just butchered her there and left her to die on the street like some animal is incomprehensible,” Erika Ladouceur said during sentencing submissions Thursday.

“I hope you remember her beautiful face every time you see the scars on your hand or look in the mirror and never get the chance to hurt someone else again.”

She described the traumatic experience of identifying her daughter’s body in the hospital after the attack.

“I remember just standing there not understanding why her beautiful blonde hair was red,” she recalled through sobs. “The pain I feel every day since then is immeasurable.”

Ladouceur was born and lived in Toronto but moved to Calgary with her mother and sister when she was around two years old.

Her mother said her daughter had just moved into an apartment months before her death, loved the mountains and would paint portraits and landscapes.

She said she was spiritual and passionate about poetry and politics.

“She was a deeply sensitive loving and giving person,” she said. “She understood the importance of giving back and being humble.”

Ladouceur’s mother told the court her daughter also felt strongly about helping the homeless and improving animal welfare, recalling that she memorized Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I Had a Dream’ speech.

“She wanted to make a difference in this world and was just fearless,” she said. ““Who am I without her? I will never see her walk down the aisle or hold my grandchild.”

Adenyi sat listening in the prisoner’s box and had no signs of emotion.

“All the dreams that I had as a mother for my child, destroyed in 12 seconds,” she said. “Losing her is so profound it is impossible to put in words.”

Ladouceur says she plans to move out of Calgary, saying the city carries too many painful memories.

“I can’t stay in Calgary without being reminded of her,” she said.

‘She was an innocent victim’: Judge addresses Adenyi

A conviction for first-degree murder in Canada carries a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

Justice Jane Sidnell also imposed a lifetime firearms ban, describing the crime against a stranger as “heinous.”

“She was going to work and you took her life. You destroyed her life and it’s obvious to me that you have also destroyed the life of those who knew it,” she told Adenyi. “She was an innocent victim.”

Adenyi’s defence claimed he was in the midst of a psychotic episode and was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

He told the court during the trial he was hallucinating and believed he was attacking animalistic and demonic creatures and told the jury he would take hour-long showers to drown out voices in his head.

In May, a jury deliberated for 12 hours before rejecting the not criminally responsible plea and convicting him of first-degree murder.

The defence said Adenyi showed all the hallmarks of schizophrenia and had been prescribed antipsychotic drugs, however, Crown prosecutors argued he lied to police and mental health professionals to avoid facing consequences for the killing.

Throughout the five-week trial, the jury was shown disturbing and bizarre evidence, including two red notebooks found in a backpack Adenyi was seen on surveillance footage dumping in an alley garbage bin.

The books included writings like ‘Death Note,’ ‘Three people to kill,’ and ‘Beat three times, rape, torture.’

Adenyi’s internet search history also revealed searches for ‘How strong is a human skull?’ and ‘How much blood loss can a person handle?’

A small group of Adenyi’s family was in court for the sentencing Thursday but declined to comment.