EDMONTON - An Alberta man charged with murdering two prostitutes was a suspect in the deaths of six other women and the disappearance of two others.
According to transcripts of police interviews released by the Crown on Friday, members of an RCMP task force broke the news to Thomas Svekla upon his arrest in May 2006, after the dismembered body of Theresa Innis was found in his hockey bag.
"What you need to be aware of, Tom, is that you're also a suspect in the following homicide investigations: Bernadette Ahenakew, Edna Bernard, Debbie Lake, Monique Pitre, Melissa Munch, Sylvia Ballantyne and Rachelle Quinney,'' RCMP Const. John Respet said.
"You're also a suspect in the following missing persons investigations: Corrie Ottenbreit and Delores Brower.''
Asked if he had any questions, Svekla told police, "Just wanna scream.''
Criminal profilers and police have said that they believe a single killer may be responsible for the deaths of at least seven and as many as 12 Edmonton prostitutes over the last 18 years.
Svekla is to go on trial Feb. 19 before a judge alone on two charges of second-degree murder in the deaths of Innis and Quinney.
Parts of the transcripts, which cover 40 hours of interrogation, may be entered as evidence during the trial. Portions released to the media were edited by Svekla's lawyer, the Crown and the RCMP. The media were cautioned that the transcripts may contain minor inaccuracies.
During the interrogations conducted between 2004 and 2006, Svekla, a self-described crack-cocaine addict, told Mounties that he was capable of committing hideous crimes, but he never quite confessed to killing anyone.
"It's hard, because I got all that guilt. I'm carrying that guilt. I've done some bad things in my life but I didn't do this crime.''
In one exchange Svekla told RCMP that he found a decomposing body in his truck wrapped in a deflated air mattress and placed it in his hockey bag.
He said he wanted to get rid of it over fear he would be blamed. He drove south to the Edmonton area from High Level in May 2006 but said he didn't know who the victim was.
Despite repeated questioning, all he would say is that someone was trying to set him up. He couldn't explain why he drove the body 700 kilometres to his parents' home in Fort Saskatchewan.
After hours of interrogation he appeared resigned, wondering if he would be sentenced to 25 years.
"My life's friggin' over anyways,'' he said.
"I would have buried that person, I would've picked a nice spot that would've been done, then I would have saved my ass because I know my ass is in a sling now, and I hurt a lotta people.''
Svekla blamed family members, friends and acquaintances for his legal troubles, telling police that he wasn't loved or valued when he was growing up.
He boasted of his sexual history and numerous relationships, calling himself the "Don Juan'' of High Level, but acknowledged that he didn't really like women. He admitted to picking up about 30 prostitutes over a five-year period.
"You know, you mimic, the way, what you see when you're a kid. Right? Oh, they're bitches, they're whores,'' he said.
During a polygraph test, Svekla admitted he hurt many people in the past, including women with whom he had romantic relationships.
But he repeatedly insisted to police that he had nothing to do with Quinney's death beyond stumbling upon her body in 2004 in a rural area east of Edmonton.
"Did you kill Rachel Quinney?'' asked Sgt. Jim Gamlin.
"I did not,'' Svekla replied, but then went on to tell police that he was positive she was assaulted somewhere else after looking at the injuries on her badly battered body.
He also said that Quinney's death changed his life, but didn't explain how. And he said he would like to meet her parents.
Many of the former tire store mechanic's answers to police questions were vague and rambling.
He told police they should get forensic samples from a farm near Sherwood Park, where he and other men lured prostitutes with promises of drugs.
Svekla said a man with the street name of Dino wanted him to keep the women in line if they "get all paranoid or flip out.''
"Comes to a point where they have to be physically -- you know -- restrained,'' he said. "He wants me to beat them up, but I won't do that.''
Name by name, RCMP asked him about all the missing women in the Edmonton area, and he denied knowing many of them or recognizing their pictures.
He did admit to having picked Monique Pitre up one morning on an Edmonton street and taking her to a parkade on a "date.''
RCMP appeared to follow up all on twists and turns in their questioning but always came back to how Innis's body got into his hockey bag.
Svekla steadfastly stuck to his story that he was set up.
"Because I'm known around High Level,'' he said. "People think I'm a rapist, I hate women, murderer,'' he said. "I portray myself as a gangster.''
