{"id":31569,"date":"2025-07-29T10:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T10:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/31569\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T10:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T10:07:11","slug":"twice-convicted-calgary-man-handed-life-sentence-in-stabbing-death-of-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/31569\/","title":{"rendered":"Twice-convicted Calgary man handed life sentence in stabbing death of woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

A twice-convicted Calgary man who brutally killed a 58-year-old woman by stabbing her almost 80 times, dousing her body in gasoline and lighting it on fire has been sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Christopher Dunlop, 51, was found guilty earlier this month of first-degree murder in the 2023 death of Judy Maerz.<\/p>\n

Dunlop had previously spent 13 years behind bars for manslaughter in the 2009 death of a sex worker in Calgary.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t51-year-old Christopher Dunlop, was charged with the death of 58-year-old Judy Maerz less than a year after he had been released from prison for the 2009 killing of a sex trade worker in Calgary.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tProvided to Global Calgary\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Court heard Dunlop stabbed Maerz 79 times, set her body on fire and left it in Deerfoot Athletic Park, near the intersection of Deerfoot Trail and 16 Avenue northeast.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI must confess, I have struggled to put into words something that appropriately expresses the heinous nature of this crime,\u201d Court of King\u2019s Bench Justice Colin Feasby told a sentencing hearing Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was done to Ms. Maerz was shocking, horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunlop was given an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years, at which time he will be in his mid-70s.<\/p>\n

He will serve that sentence concurrent with a five-year sentence for indignity to a body.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourt was told that Dunlop stabbed his victim 79 times, then set her body on fire and left it at Deerfoot Athletic Park, near the intersection of Deerfoot Trail and 16 Avenue northeast.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why you do these things. I don\u2019t know how you make peace with yourself,\u201d Feasby told Dunlop. \u201cBut you\u2019re going to have a long time to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

No victim impact statements were submitted. Dunlop, who sat largely expressionless wearing a white button-down shirt, declined Monday to verbally address the court.<\/p>\n

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Prosecutor Hyatt Mograbee called Dunlop\u2019s actions a \u201cshocking and brazen murder\u201d and said the lack of victim impact statements could indicate the emotional impact of Maerz\u2019s death on loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Dunlop learned from his crime the first time, and he tried again to cover his tracks and conceal evidence,\u201d Mograbee told court.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Maerz) was deprived of her dignity \u2014 the dignity of her death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunlop\u2019s defence lawyer, Allan Fay, did not object to the sentence.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:28
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNew details emerge in the trial of Christopher Ward Dunlop\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Dunlop was charged in Maerz\u2019s death less than a year after completing his sentence for the death of Laura Furlan, a sex worker whose decomposed body was found in a bush by a dog walker in 2009.<\/p>\n

Court documents say Furlan, who was 38 at the time and had a 15-year-old son, had recently lost her job as an administrative assistant, and was concerned about not having enough money to pay her bills.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDunlop was charged with killing 58-year-old Judy Maerz less than a year after being released from prison for the 2009 killing of Calgary sex trade worker Laura Furlan.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tProvided to Global News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Mograbee, who also served as a prosecutor in the 2015 manslaughter trial, told reporters outside the courthouse that Maerz\u2019s and Furlan\u2019s deaths will likely be felt by people in similarly vulnerable positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those that are vulnerable out on the street \u2014 working like Laura Furlan did and Judy Maerz did \u2014 they\u2019re likely to hear about this, and they\u2019re vulnerable for a reason. They\u2019re out at night alone oftentimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:11
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tConvicted killer charged with murder of another woman had finished sentence in June\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Kathryn Furlan, Laura\u2019s mother, attended Monday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

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Speaking outside court, she told reporters she came to see justice served.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should have never gotten out,\u201d Furlan said of his initial release.<\/p>\n

With Dunlop likely to spend the rest of his life in prison, Furlan said she\u2019s ready to move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a promise to myself that I was going to advocate for my daughter till the end, and this is the end for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A twice-convicted Calgary man who brutally killed a 58-year-old woman by stabbing her almost 80 times, dousing her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,24376,2169,24377,24378,44],"class_list":["post-31569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-christopher-dunlop","tag-crime","tag-judy-maerz-homicide","tag-laura-furlan-homicide","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}