Warning: This story contains graphic details.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has designated a Creston man a dangerous offender after he was convicted of manslaughter in the August 2015 death and dismembering of a local woman.
Sentencing judge Justice Dennis Hori said that because of Nathaniel David Jessup’s history of violent offences, his failure or unwillingness to participate in jail treatment programs, and a doctor’s opinion that he isn’t a candidate for help, it was his view that Jessup won’t be able to overcome his violent behaviour.
In convicting Jessup in November 2022, Justice James Williams said: “The actions that he took, particularly with respect to the dismemberment of the body, were, by any measure, extreme and beyond the pale.”
Jessup was charged with the second-degree murder of Katherine McAdam, 59, as well as improperly or indecently interfering with or offering an indignity to a dead human body or by dismembering her remains and leaving them in a bicycle trailer. Manslaughter is a lesser, included offence that can be determined based on intent.
“The act of taking the body and attacking it with a hacksaw, rendering it into a number of pieces, must necessarily have taken some time and entailed a quite determined and elaborate effort,” Williams said. “In addition to being unspeakably gruesome, actually performing the deed would have created a real risk of being detected.”
The Crown sought a dangerous offender designation for Jessup, a decision which means incarceration of an indeterminate length for public protection.
The Crown described the pattern as one of "spontaneous, impulsive, and reactive violence and aggression."
Hori said the maximum penalty for manslaughter is life in prison while that for offering an indignity to human remains is five years with no minimum sentence.
He said Jessup’s conduct in causing McAdam’s death was “callous and unfeeling, and showed a high degree of indifference to the consequences of his actions.”
In a Nov. 12 decision released Dec. 6, Horis said the Crown’s sentencing position was that Jessup's criminal history, including his current conviction for manslaughter, “reveals a pattern of repetitive and persistently aggressive and violent behaviour that warrants a dangerous offender designation.”
The prosecution told Hori that Jessup has an antisocial personality disorder with dismal treatment prospects which creates a high risk that he will continue to commit violent offences in the future.
“On the conviction for manslaughter, I declare you a dangerous offender and impose a sentence of detention in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period,” Hori said. He also sentenced Jessup to three years offering an indignity to human remains.
Katherine McAdam’s death
The court heard that McAdam was last seen early on the morning of Aug.15, 2015.
Neighbour Shirley Ottley said she saw Jessup later that day using the laundry. She asked where McAdam was and was told, “She’s not here right now.”
That afternoon, upstairs neighbour Mrs. French went to McAdam’s door and found a sign not in Ms. McAdam’s handwriting reading, “Very Sick Do Not Disturb”.
She said a radio was playing loudly, noise that continued throughout the night.
McAdam’s father, Norman Gowing, dropped by but got no answer. He arrived again the next day, French hearing him distraught, saying, “Where is my daughter? What is happening?”
French went to investigate and found Jessup, believed to be 28, in the laundry room, wearing a yellow rubber kitchen glove and holding another glove in that hand.
Upstairs neighbour Mr. Abbey testified he saw Jessup put a black suitcase with a fabric handle on a green and yellow CCM bicycle trailer attached to a bike. Jessup then left.
Ottley reported McAdam missing on Aug. 18.
Ashley Pompu testified she saw Jessup on her family property at Erickson, just outside of Creston. She said he was having a fire, with a bundle of bedding next to him. Her father Darryl Pompu went and told him to douse the fire. Their recollections of the dates conflicted with either Aug. 17 or Aug. 24.
It was on Aug. 24 that McAdam’s landlady went to clean up the suite and found a carpet missing.
Meanwhile, Jessup went to another Creston residence, that of Wayne Kolodychuk and asked for a place to stay.
Kolodychuk noticed “a pronounced and distinct ammonia smell on the suitcase” Jessup arrived with.
“In fact, he described that there was ammonia dripping from the luggage onto the carpet,” Williams said, saying photos of the suitcase were consistent with Abbey’s description of the case he saw Jessup with.
Police later found a case smelling of ammonia. It had blood on it which matched McAdam's DNA profile.
On Aug. 27, police went to the Pompu property. They found a bicycle trailer where “a strong unpleasant smell was emanating from it.”
Inside they found bags containing McAdam’s body parts cut into seven pieces.
Nearby, police found a black backpack containing various items including a welfare receipt in Jessup’s name of the defendant, as well as a utility bill in the name of his mother. A hacksaw was also found. McAdam’s DNA was on the blade.
Williams said the advanced state of decomposition frustrated a pathologist’s efforts to determine the cause of death.
However, Williams could not conclude there was murderous intent, a finding necessary for a finding of murder.
“I have no reservation in concluding that there was a violent assault perpetrated upon Ms. McAdam by Mr. Jessup, and the results were fatal,” Williams said.
Prior convictions
Hori said Jessop had previous multiple convictions for aggravated assault, assaulting a police officer, assaulting a police officer with a weapon as well as a charge of abducting a child.
