A large bundle of money seized by police during their investigation of a murder-for-hire case in Coquitlam more than three decades ago is being forfeited to the Attorney General of Canada to dispose of as it “may see fit.”
In a ruling at BC Supreme Court in New Westminster Nov. 25, Justice Sandra Sukstorf said $30,000 seized from Milan Nenadic when the money fell from the waistband of his pants as he was being arrested on Aug. 10, 1992, in connection with the murder of Alexandra Pesic five days earlier should not be permitted to be retained by the offenders.
Nenadic and the victim’s mother-in-law, Jelka Pesic, were convicted of Alexandra Pesic’s murder on Dec. 10, 1993, along with an accomplice, Lawrence Delorme.
Another accomplice, David Segoviano, was also found guilty of first-degree murder in a separate trial.
They all received prison sentences of 25 years to life.
During the trials, the Crown said Jelka Pesic hired the three men to kill her daughter-in-law.
Alexandra Pesic, a dental hygienist and former Miss Canada contestant, died when she was shot twice in the head outside her workplace on Cottonwood Avenue.
The brazen murder, which occurred in broad daylight, shocked the community. It even became the basis for a made-for-TV movie, The Perfect Mother, that aired on CBS in 1997.
The money, wrapped in toilet paper plastic and elastics according to court documents, was entered as evidence during the trial and subsequent appeal. It was returned to the RCMP in 1998 but its forfeiture was never addressed.
The money was only rediscovered in 2017 when an officer from Coquitlam RCMP was assigned to dispose of any remaining exhibits related to the case.
After an unsuccessful effort to contact Nenadic, and Alexandra Pesic’s continued denial of her involvement in the murder, the money was subsequently deposited by the Seized Property Management Directorate into a Receiver General account at the Royal Bank in March 2018.
In her ruling, Sukstorf said as the money was tied directly to Alexandra Pesic’s murder, it’s tainted with criminality and allowing either Nenadic or Jelka Pesic to benefit from the funds “would contradict the societal interest in ensuring that individuals cannot benefit from criminal activity.”
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