Murder trial begins on Monday
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Updated: September 17, 2009 3:13 PM
The first-degree murder trial of Robert Balbar, the man accused of killing Heather Hamill, is expected to begin on Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.
Balbar, then 36, was arrested in Merritt in December 2007 and charged with Hamill’s death after a lengthy “Mr. Big” sting operation, during which a number of undercover cops posed as gangsters to gain the defendant’s trust.
Shortly after his arrest, police made an appeal to the public as to the whereabouts of a large white cooler, which could play a role in the case.
Balbar and Hamill, who was known to work as a prostitute at the time of her death, were living as a common-law couple when her body was pulled from the North Thompson River near Indian Point on Aug. 1, 2003.
Hamill had three children when she was murdered.
Hamill’s slaying was followed by the murders of two more city street workers.
On March 23, 2004, the body of Shana Labatte was found in Mission Flats municipal park.
Almost 11 months later, Sheri Lee Hiltz’s badly beaten body was found behind a residence in the 800-block of Surrey Avenue.
There have been no arrests in the latter two murders.
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