Mike on Crime

THE CANADIAN PRESS

LONDON, Ont. – A London, Ont., court is hearing about the first discovery of eight bodies in what prosecutors allege was an internal cleansing of the Bandidos outlaw motorcyle gang.

The victims of the province’s largest-ever mass slaying were found in four abandoned vehicles left in an area marked by farm fields and forests in a rural Ontario hamlet in 2006.

Mary Steele, whose property abuts the crime scene, told court a neighbour alerted her and her husband to the strange discovery of several vehicles parked just off the road.

She testified the TV show “CSI” taught her not to touch anything as she approached the vehicles, so she only peeked inside.

Court heard she saw something in the back of the first vehicle but it was covered by a blanket and it wasn’t clear what it was.

The next two vehicles, a tow truck with a car hitched to it, had frost on the windows, so the couple went back inside and called police.

After curiosity got the best of them, they went back to the road to take another look and discovered the fourth vehicle, which had been driven deeper off the road.

“Our first thought was the cars were stolen,” she testified, and added she began to get nervous that there could be people in the vehicles who may have passed out after drinking.

She called police again and when they arrived and began investigating, she could see what happened.

“I could see a form,” she said.

“In retrospect, knowing what I know now it was one (victim).”