Woman had defensive wounds on her hands, pathologist tells B.C. murder trial

An aerial view of a forest service road is seen on the east side of Mabel Lake near Lumby, B.C., in this photograph taken with a drone on Monday, May 13, 2024. Tatjana Stefanski, 44, was found dead in the Mabel Lake area on April 14 after disappearing a day earlier. RCMP say she was last seen on April 13 with her ex-husband before "departing unexpectedly" with him in a black Audi. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A forensic pathologist told a B.C. Supreme Court trial that the body of a woman killed in April 2024 had multiple wounds on her hands, consistent with “defensive-type” injuries common when someone tries to ward off a sharp object.

Dr. Eric Bol told the jury in the second-degree murder trial of Vitali Stefanski in Kamloops, B.C., that Tatjana Stefanski’s body had seven stab wounds to her chest and 14 “sharp-force injuries” to her arms and legs in addition to the injuries to her hands.

• Related: Ex-husband emerged shoeless from woods to confess he killed Tatjana Stefanski: Crown

Bol said the cause of death was “multiple sharp force injuries,” but the wounds to her chest were “more significant.”

Vitali Stefanski has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 44-year-old ex-wife, who had been reported abducted the day before.

Bol told the trial that some of the injuries to the woman’s body were yellow in colour, suggesting they occurred later in the sequence of events or after Tatjana Stefanski’s heart had stopped beating.

The trial has already heard that a bent and bloodied knife was found near the body, and it had the DNA of both Tatjana and Vitali Stefanski.

Police officers have testified that Vitali Stefanski told them he’d murdered his ex-wife and had tried to kill himself.

His lawyer has yet to present a case to the jury.

This report by Ashley Joannou of The Canadian Press was first published on June 8, 2026