Suspect ‘stunned’ by news of killing

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The man accused of killing April Hornbrook looked shocked when he heard about her slaying, a former bartender at a Main Street hotel testified Wednesday.

Jason Doerkson said when he saw Max Maurice Richard, a day or so after Hornbrook’s body was found a few blocks away from the Northern Hotel, and told him what happened to her “He seemed stunned.”

“His jaw dropped, and his eyes got wide.”

Doerkson, who was tending bar on Aug. 26, 2011, told the seven-woman, five-man Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench jury the last time he saw Hornbrook and Richard was when they left the hotel after it closed for the night.

“He (Richard) said they walked to the Manwin (Hotel). He asked if she would come with him and she said no, so she went her way and he went his way.

“I don’t know which way they walked. I just went on with what he told me.”

Under questioning, Doerkson said Richard appeared to be wearing the same clothing he had on the night Hornbrook was killed, and while it appeared dirty, he didn’t notice blood on it.

Richard, 39, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

Hornbrook, 24, died after being assaulted. Her body was found on Aug. 27, 2011, lying beside an abandoned warehouse known as the Yellow Warehouse. The warehouse has since been demolished.

Court has been told Hornbrook had come to the bar with her boyfriend, but he had been kicked out and left after he assaulted her.

Doerkson said the last time he saw Hornbrook that evening was when he locked the door to the bar just after 2 a.m. She was with Richard at the time.

“They pretty much spent the night together,” Doerkson said. “They were close. Holding hands. Max would be hugging her, or she would be hugging him.”

Doerkson described both Hornbrook and Richard as regular customers in the Northern Hotel beverage room, singling out the accused as a friendly guy who “always had a smile on his face.”

Meanwhile, Neil Murdock, a friend of Hornbrook’s, said he saw a bruise on her face and she showed him another one on her body after she told him her boyfriend assaulted her at the hotel.

Murdock admitted he then went outside and punched and kicked the man, which later caused him to be charged with assault and receive two years of probation after he pleaded guilty.

Murdock told the court he said one last thing to Richard before he left: “I looked at Max and said ‘Make sure she gets home safe.’ “

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca