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Calgary Herald

In Calgary courts: Homicide victim was 'really happy' after finally finding her own home, best friend says

Article content After years of couch surfing or living at her adult son's, Calgarian Judy Maerz was 'really happy' to finally get her own place, only days before she was brutally killed, court heard Monday. Article content Thomas Reilly, the dead woman's best friend, said he helped Maerz move into her 23rd Avenue S.W. subsidized housing apartment suite at the beginning of February 2023. Article content Article content Reilly told Crown prosecutor Hyatt Mograbee that was the first time Maerz, 58, had a place of her own in the 12 years he had known her. Article content Article content 'She was really happy,' Reilly told the Calgary Court of King's Bench trial of Maerz's alleged murderer, Christopher Ward Dunlop. Article content Article content Dunlop, 50, is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 16, 2023, death of Maerz, who was stabbed dozens of times and had her throat slit. Article content Dunlop is also charged with causing an indignity to a body after the victim's body was set ablaze in the Deerfoot Athletic Park off 8th Avenue N.E., in the early morning hours of that day. Article content Reilly said he last saw Maerz either on Feb. 13 or 14, when he left her residence after spending the night while visiting from his home in Wetaskiwin. Article content 'She was buzzed … high, intoxicated. She usually was,' he said, adding Maerz would sell sex for money to buy marijuana or crack cocaine. Article content 'She was really happy she had her place. She had a chance to cook for me, make tea,' Reilly said. Article content He said he helped Maerz move into the unit with items she kept stored at her son's and daughter's homes, as well as some things she had purchased through Women In Need Society. Article content Article content A Calgary police officer who photographed the apartment after Maerz's death described it as sparse. Article content Reilly identified Maerz in security footage showing her leaving her new digs around 9 p.m. the evening of Feb. 15. Article content It's the Crown's theory Maerz travelled to the hooker stroll in Forest Lawn where Dunlop picked her up before driving to the secluded athletic park adjacent to the busy Deerfoot Trail. Article content A second friend of the deceased, Brian Sproul, said he last saw Maerz the morning she died when she visited his 28th Street S.E. residence. Article content When Maerz left to catch a bus around 12:30 he told her if she missed the last one she could return and stay the night. Article content 'I thought she made it home alright,' Sproul said.