Missing $700K at heart of case against former B.C. lawyer accused of 1st-degree murder

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Crown prosecutors said he was a former British Columbia lawyer who was charged with first-degree murder and owed him $700,000.

Rogelio “Butch” Bagabuyo died in March 2022 Mohd Abdullah, a Thompson Rivers University computer science professor, who died in March 2022.

Bagabuyo’s trial was only heard before the judge starting Monday. Crown Attorney Ann Katrine Saettler told Justice Kathleen Ker on Tuesday that Abdullah gave Bagabuyo in 2016 when Abdullah ended his marriage in 2016.

According to official event theory, the computer science professor expects to get back the money after the divorce – in March 2022, he is still waiting for Babu to make a date for return. According to the royal family, the money is still missing.

A man wearing a blue baseball cap standing next to a woman with long hair.
Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco, who lives in the Philippines, and her father, Mohd Abdullah. Mohd Abdullah’s former lawyer, Rogelio ‘Butch’ Bagabuyo, was charged with first-degree murder. (Submitted by Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco)

On the last day, Abdullah lived on March 11, 2022, when he was photographed in the Bagabuyo office in downtown Kamloops.

His body was found in a plastic trash can at the back of the rental van a few days later. An autopsy confirmed several stab wounds in Abdullah’s upper left chest and back.

The royal family said it plans to prove that Babuyo killed Abdullah in his office, placed the body in a plastic tote bag and moved it to a van.

A man in a green coat walking in a green sidewalk.
The RCMP has released images of Mohd Abdullah from March 14, 2022. In court, the royal family claimed that Bagabuyo’s motive for murder was more than $700,000 owed Abdullah’s Bagabuyo. (RCMP)

Witnesses stand up

Justin Robertson, the first witness to his position on Tuesday, called 911 to report that he contained human remains in a rental car outside his grandparents’ residence near Dufferin in Kamloops.

Robertson testified that he and his grandmother became suspicious after his grandfather told them that Bagabuyo asked for his help to bury the box.

The Kamloops man told the court that he put on some garden gloves, entered the rental van and opened a plastic tote bag containing the victim’s body.

Robertson hit 911 after seeing someone’s feet in the trash can.

A white budget van parked on the side of the street and blocked with police tape.
On March 17, 2022, a budget rental van with Abdullah’s body was found in the 1600 block of Kamloops, British Columbia. (Kamloops RCMP)

The first piece of evidence filed in the court on Monday was a rental document for a budget van in which the victim’s remains were found.

Other evidence items include a large black storage bag, rope, disposable lighter, cable and black garbage bag with cut holes, knife, a 12-inch blade and shovel.

Bagabuyo was initially charged with interfering with human remains three days after Abdullah’s body was discovered on March 17, 2022.

More than a year later, he was charged with murder. He has been free on bail since July 2023.

Abdullah, 60, worked at Thompson Rivers University for 21 years and played a major role in the School of Science and Open Learning, according to a 2022 statement from the university.

Shortly after Abdullah’s death, Abdullah’s son-in-law told CBC News that Bagabuyo was Abdullah’s “trusted friend”. Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco, daughter of Abdullah, said her father was a quiet and kind person.

Bagabuyo’s trial will continue on Wednesday.

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