The man accused of abducting and killing Etobicoke physiotherapist, Paula Menendez, along with his estranged wife Julie Crocker was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday in a Toronto courtroom.Christopher Little is guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. The Crown accused Little of staging the double-murder in an attempt to frame Menendez in the murder of Crocker, who was romantically involved with Menendez's estranged husband. The crown said Little made it appear that Menendez had killed Crocker out of jealousy and then hung herself in the garage.
The jury deliberated for three days before reaching a verdict in the case, which began in February 2007, when Little called 911 to report that he had found a woman hanging in his garage in the couple's Markham home, and his wife bleeding to death.
Over the course of the trial, the court heard that Little had Googled Menendez's Etobicoke home address on his work computer two days before the killings occurred.
The Crown portrayed Menendez as a woman who was moving on with her life. She had asked her twin sister to call after her scheduled C-section as soon as possible to describe her new nephew. Menendez had just returned from a weekend away in Ottawa with friends, and was dating someone new.
Police found her purse, wallet, keys in her Etobicoke home and her car parked in her driveway.
Menendez worked at Bloor West physiotherapy clinic Pivot for over two years before her death.
"Paula was such a beautiful person," Pivot co-owner and close friend Dinah Hampson told The Guardian after Menendez's death. "...Paula was such an innocent, non-participant in the whole thing, that it makes it all the more tragic."
A first-degree murder conviction brings an automatic life sentence for Little.
- With files from Cynthia Reason and Torstar News Service