S9, E5: One Drug From Murder

One Drug From Murder Halloween, October 31, 2011 a story out of Canada. It was Taylor Jade van Diest’s favorite day of the year. She lived in the rural town of Armstrong in British Columbia with her mother, Marie, and twin sister, Kirstie. Taylor loved listening to jazz and was a gamer enjoyed playing World of Warcraft with her friends. Although Taylor was 18 and had just graduated high school, she and some friends decided they were going to go trick or treating 1 more time. Taylor dressed up as a zombie and left her house on foot at 5:50pm to meet up with 2 friends, Zoe and Clay, and her boyfriend, Colton. She took a trail that is used all the time by local kids. It runs parallel to some train tracks and goes near an elementary school. Taylor was texting with them as she walked. But at 6pm while still walking on the trail, Taylor sent her boyfriend, Colton, a text that simply said “Being creeped”. It was the last text message she would ever send. When Taylor did show up to meet them a little while later, Zoe, Clay and Colton went looking for her. At 7:30pm, some 2 teen boys found Taylor’s phone while they were hanging near the railroad tracks. They gave the phone to Taylor’s twin, Kirstie, who called Taylor’s friends. Kirstie and Taylor’s friends met up where the boys has said they found the phone. At about 8:45pm they found Taylor laying face-down in a ditch by the tracks. She was unconscious but still alive! Taylor’s injuries were so severe that at first doctors assumed she had been hit by a train. But it was revealed that she had actually been severely beaten and strangled. Taylor died from her injuries at the hospital the next day. Her cause of death was listed as multiple blunt-force trauma wounds to the back of the head. A steel pipe had been found near her body and it was likely what caused her skull fractures. When investigators released a photo of Taylor in her zombie costume, hoping to find a witness. They discovered that several people heard Taylor screaming, but assumed it was just kids having Halloween fun. Taylor had a number of defensive wounds, including broken fingers and scratches on her neck presumably from trying to pry her killer’s hands away while being strangled. Luckily Taylor managed to get some of her killer’s blood and skin under her fingernails. DNA was extracted and a profile of her killer was created. The profile didn’t match anyone on file, BUT, it was a match to an unsolved sexual assault from April 2005, 6 years earlier. In that case a man had gone to an escort agency, grabbed a sex worker by the hair, and forced her to perform a sexual act while he held a knife to her throat. After, he tied her up and raped her. Police asked the previous victim to sit with a sketch artist and the sketch was released to the public. Area residents immediately recognized him as 25-year-old Matthew Foerster from the nearby town of Cherryville, British Columbia, about an hour away. Unfortunately, when detectives when to speak to Matthew, they found his apartment empty. Next police when to speak to people who knew Mathew. It turned out that his father, Stephen Foerster, had a rather lengthy criminal record himself and had once been charged with escaping custody. Suspecting Stephen may have helped Matthew run, police tapped his his phone. Sure enough they found evidence that he helped his son by buying a fake driver’s license, a bank card and a social security number from his nephew’s friend named Lee Shawcross. During their investigation, police also discovered Mathew was responsible for attacking his 19-year-old neighbor, Kaili Paul in 2004 He broke into her home while she slept, then slammed her head against the wall and told her that he wanted her. He was only 18 at the time. He finally left when she screamed and said she was going to pass out. Kaili wasn’t able to ID her neighbor as her attacker because he wore a mask. But his DNA linked him to that assault as well. After 5 months on th run, in April of 2012, police finally caught up with Matthew, who was living in Ontario and working in a glass factory, going by the name Shawcross. After he was arrested, Matthew told investigators that on Halloween 2011, he drove to the town of Armstrong to look for a woman to have consensual sex with. But he was drinking and smoking weed at that time. He approached Taylor and pushed her to the ground. When she fought back, he beat her with a metal flashlight and then strangled her with a shoelace. On his drive back to Cherryville he got rid of the murder weapons, tossing them in a dumpster. Taylor’s DNA was found in Matthew Foerster’s truck. Matthew was charged with first-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm, and sexual assault. He plead not guilty. At his trial in 2014, his defense lawyers said he was only guilty of manslaughter, that Taylor was killed during a sexual assault, it wasn’t premeditated 1st degree murder. Jurors disagreed and found 28-year-old Matthew Foerster guilty of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years. HOWEVER, he appealed in 2016 on the grounds that the trial judge made a mistake while giving instructions to the jury when it came to the issue of attempted sexual assault. If the jury found there was an attempted sexual assault, then it was first degree murder rather than a lesser charge. Based on this, Matthew was granted a new trial in March 2017. But rather than face another jury, he plead guilty to the lesser charge of 2nd degree murder in June of 2018. So his plea meant that he acknowledged that his actions would kill Taylor, but he hadn’t planned it in advance. And that he didn’t fatally injure her while trying to sexually assault her — this was required for the prosecution to get a first-degree conviction. The guilty plea was jointly submitted by the Crown and the Defense for sentencing, which meant Mathew was giving up any future options to appeal. The 2nd degree murder charge carries an automatic life sentence, but the judge sets the parole eligibility at sentencing and can decide he’s eligible as early as 10 years and as long as 25 years. At sentencing, defense lawyer Ken Beatch said, that were “many mitigating factors” at the time of the “incident.” For one, Mathew was very young at the time, only 25 years old. Also, Matthew was under the influence of drugs that day. He had consumed vodka, beer, mushrooms, and marijuana earlier in the day. And quote: “All his criminal activity has been fueled by drugs and alcohol.” Beatch also told the judge that Mathew was very “motivated to change. He does not want to be that person. He regrets that day every day and has done so since then. This is a man who feels remorse, deep remorse.” He reported that Mathew had been sober since his arrest and had participated in AA as well as 3 separate integrated correctional programs. Also at the sentencing, Matthew read an pre-written apology letter to Taylor’s family that said: “I’m so sorry that I have taken your loved one. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t feel regret. I wish more than anything I could take back what I did.” Taylor’s mother, Marie van Diest, didn’t buy it and, said his apology felt hollow. “Not once did he mention Taylor’s name.” The judge ruled that Mathew will be eligible to apply for parole April 4, 2029, 17 years after his arrest. After 15 years served, he can apply for a reduction of parole ineligibility, meaning he could be out as early 2027. he was 28 when he was arrested so he could potentially be free by the age of 44. Mathew’s father, Stephen Foerster, received 3 years in prison and $100 fine for helping his son run from police. In 2013, Taylor’s mother and twin sister made the trail where Taylor was murdered into a memorial, now named the Taylor Jade Van Diest Memorial Trail. The trail is now paved and surrounded by flowers and landscaping in her memory. There is even a bench and an angel statue dedicated to Taylor. Global news .ca CBC .ca Abby news .com Thought catalog .com The wicked truth . medium .com