Warning: This story contains graphic details of a murder.
A Calgary man has pleaded guilty to beating his former girlfriend to death with a baseball bat while she lay in bed in the early morning at her home in Bowser two years ago.
On Tuesday, Luciano Emilio Mariani, 45, pleaded guilty in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo to the first-degree murder of Caroline Jennifer Bernard on Aug. 31, 2021.
Although Mariani is automatically sentenced to life in prison, his defence lawyer, Donna Turco, said she may launch a constitutional challenge to his parole eligibility.
Prosecutor Nick Barber told the court that Bernard, 41, lived in a downstairs suite at 5040 Thompson Clarke Dr. in Bowser, about 70 kilometres northwest of Nanaimo.
Her mother, Margarita Bernard, lived upstairs. In the early morning of Aug. 31, 2021, Margarita was awakened by a commotion downstairs and found Caroline covered in blood, seriously injured on the bed. She went to the kitchen and called 911.
At the same time, neighbour Kelly Morris heard crashing and screaming. She ran to the back of the Bernard residence and saw that the bedroom sliding door had been shattered and Caroline was on the bed, struggling to breathe. Morris called 911.
The two 911 calls came in at approximately 4:10 a.m. Firefighters and paramedics from Deep Bay arrived at 4:30 a.m. but Caroline died on her way to the hospital at 5:06 a.m.
Police recovered a video recording of a truck driving by the residence nine times in the early hours of Aug. 31, said Barber. They located the truck, which was registered to Mariani’s father, at Rosewell Creek Provincial Park northwest of Bowser.
Mariani had moved from Alberta and was staying with Caroline on and off beginning in March 2021, said Barber. She became pregnant with his child but kicked him out of her home in May 2021. He moved back to Alberta and she terminated the pregnancy on June 3, 2021.
The last communication between the couple was a text from Mariani on June 19 that said: “Hey got my clips. Thanks. Best of luck, Killer.”
Mariani later borrowed his father’s truck and left Calgary on Aug. 23. He bought a baseball bat from Value Village on East Hastings Street in Vancouver on Aug. 24. On Aug. 25, he bought a roll of hockey tape at the Canadian Tire store in Duncan, said Barber.
He travelled to the west side of Vancouver Island, then returned to the east side. At some point, he wrapped the bat with the hockey tape.
About 4:10 a.m. on Aug. 31, he broke the sliding glass door into the bedroom and killed Caroline as she lay in her bed. Barber said the pathologist found multiple fractures to the right side of Bernard’s face, adding her head was “essentially broken in half by the baseball bat. It was a very brutal beating.”
Police found that Mariani had made internet queries about domestic murders. His searches included “How do you feel after committing a murder,” “What do you do when you want to kill your ex?” and “Time needed to kill someone with a baseball bat.”
After the killing, Mariani returned to the park and cut his arms. He walked up the highway, found some workers on the side of the road and told them he had just killed his girlfriend, said Barber. The police were called and Mariani was taken into custody.
Justice David Crossin has ordered a pre-sentence report. Sentencing is expected to take place in the fall.
