One of two suspects accused of stealing a missing university student’s car will remain in police custody until a bail hearing on Friday.
Blake Leggette, 25, arrived in a sheriff’s van at Halifax provincial court Tuesday morning and was quickly escorted into the courthouse, although he did not appear in the courtroom. Defence lawyer John Black appeared on his behalf.
“I was disappointed, but I also feel like he might be breaking or something, like he couldn’t face us,” says Loretta Saunders’ sister, Delilah Terriak.
“That was really, really frustrating,” says Cheryl Maloney of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association. “We knew it was a short hearing anyway, but there was part of us that just wanted to see, him to see us, to see our pain.”
Leggette has been remanded into custody until Friday, when he is due back in court for a bail hearing.
He and his girlfriend, 28-year-old Victoria Henneberry, are charged with possession of a stolen vehicle.
The charges were laid after Ontario Provincial Police found a car belonging to 26-year-old Loretta Saunders in Harrow, located near Windsor, Ont., last week.
Leggette was brought back to Halifax from Windsor on Sunday. Police say Henneberry is expected to arrive in Halifax Tuesday evening and is due to appear in court on Thursday.
“Mr. Leggette has been spoken to in relation to the disappearance of Ms. Saunders,” says Const. Pierre Bourdages of the Halifax Regional Police. “It will be the same for Ms. Henneberry when she gets to Halifax.”
The judge said Tuesday that Leggette must not contact Henneberry while he remains in custody at a Halifax jail.
As the police investigation continues, Saunders’ family is vowing to keep searching. They say they know she is out there and they are going to find her.
“We are too strong to let this break us because we are getting her home,” said Terriak as she appeared before media Tuesday along with one of her brothers and Saunders’ boyfriend.
“I can feel her out there. I can feel her. We all can.”
“I’m just trying to stay strong,” said boyfriend Yalcin Surkultay. “I’m glad the family’s making me feel like family too.”
Saunders, who is three months pregnant, was last seen Feb. 13 at her apartment in Halifax’s Cowie Hill neighbourhood.
Her family says it is very unusual for her to be out of touch with loved ones and investigators are treating her disappearance as suspicious.
CTV News has confirmed that the names of the people arrested match the names of a man and woman to whom Saunders had just rented her apartment in January.
Surkultay says she was living with him at a different location in Halifax and that she met the tenants through Kijiji. He says she was on her way to the apartment to collect overdue rent money when he last saw her.
Friends and family have gathered in Halifax to join in the search effort and to make and pass out posters containing photos of Saunders and her vehicle.
They hope the posters will jog someone’s memory, and help them figure out what happened to Saunders from the time she was last seen near her apartment in Halifax, until her car turned up in Ontario five days later.
A fundraising effort is also underway to bring Saunders’ family to Halifax and help them with associated costs. More than $14,000 has been raised on the fundraising website GoFundMe.com.
An aspiring lawyer from Newfoundland and Labrador, Saunders has been a student at Saint Mary’s University for the past three years. She is set to graduate in May.
Ironically, she just finished writing a thesis about murdered and missing aboriginal women.
Friends and family are planning a candlelight vigil for Saunders at Halifax’s Grand Parade at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Saunders is described as an Inuk woman with light brown hair. She is five-foot-seven and weighs 120 pounds.
Her car is a blue 2000 Toyota Celica with Newfoundland and Labrador licence plate HCP 543. Police say the car has a loud muffler and a spoiler at the back.
Anyone who may have seen Saunders or her car since Feb. 13 is asked to contact police.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell
