The Attack on Laura Szendrei

On a warm September afternoon in North Delta, 15-year-old Laura Szendrei walked through Mackie Park to meet friends — and never came home. In this episode of Valley of Secrets, we uncover the disturbing investigation, escalating attacks leading up to Laura’s murder, and the undercover operation that finally exposed her killer.
curious!

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-29-2010-page-86-92/docview/3213213198/se-2 (Obituary)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-14-2010-page-5-82/docview/2494300278/se-2 (Parents plea)

Laura Szendrei memorial scholarship founded at KPU | Kwantlen Polytechnic University

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-27-2010-page-3-64/docview/3213313854/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-3-2010-page-6-136/docview/3213211903/se-2 (Funeral)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-30-2010-page-6-112/docview/3213202914/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-29-2010-page-3-92/docview/3213213145/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-10-2010-page-6-152/docview/3213388293/se-2

 https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-14-2010-page-3-104/docview/3213516305/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/december-27-2010-page-4-84/docview/3213206214/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-1-2010-page-6-128/docview/3213337370/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-20-2010-page-4-92/docview/3212920575/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-9-2010-page-2-144/docview/2494305314/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-27-2010-page-1-48/docview/2494296368/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-27-2010-page-4-48/docview/2494296386/se-2

Teenager pleads guilty to murder in death of Delta, B.C., teen Laura Szendrei | Globalnews.ca

Slain B.C. girl's parents issue appeal | CBC News

Wyatt DeBruin identified as Szendrei's murderer - Delta Optimist

Laura Szendrei's teen killer sentenced to life | CBC News

Laura Szendrei Memorial Award established for women’s soccer - University of Victoria Athletics

Doctor says Laura Szendrei's killer should get adult term

Laura Szendrei's killer sentenced as an adult 

Wyatt DeBruin identified as Laura Szendrei's killer 

| CBC News Accused in Laura Szendrei murder pleads guilty | Vancouver Sun

Man’s anxiety led to teen’s murder:court - BC | Globalnews.ca

Police sting led to capture of Laura Szendrei's killer | CBC News

Publication ban lifted on killer of Delta teen

Convicted killer tells B.C. court he doesn’t deserve forgiveness

B.C. killer believed rape would cure his anxiety, court told | CBC News

Young man who murdered Laura Szendrei sentenced as adult to life

Laura Szendrei’s killer to be sentenced on Oct. 18 | Surrey Now-Leader

Teenager pleads guilty to murder in death of B.C. teen Laura Szendrei | Globalnews.ca

Laura Szendrei killer sentenced as an adult to life in prison | Cloverdale Reporter

Mike and Rachel Szendrei release a statement on the death of their 15-year-old daughter - YouTubeFuneral planned for murdered teen Laura 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome to Valley of Secrets. I'm Nikki Ruth. If you're new here, welcome. I'm really glad you found your way, and I hope you'll stick around for more episodes. Today's case is one that completely shook British Columbia. It begins on what should have been an ordinary Saturday afternoon in North Delta. Kids are playing soccer, families are walking through the park. Teenagers are meeting up with friends. It's the kind of day where nothing feels dangerous until suddenly a scream cuts through the air. A 15-year-old girl is found bleeding on a pathway in Mackey Park after what appears to be a random attack. At first, police have almost nothing to work with, just terrified witnesses, a vague description of a young man, and a community desperate for answers. But as investigators begin pulling at the threads, an incredibly disturbing picture starts to emerge. Because this attack may not have been random at all. This is the story of Laura Zendrick. Just after 1 30 in the afternoon. The sun is shining, but the air feels heavy with that late summer humidity. Across Mackie Park, you can hear the sounds of a completely normal day unfolding. Soccer whistles, laughter, conversations drifting across the fields. Nothing feels out of place until it does. Somewhere along one of those wooded trails, a scream suddenly pierces through the noise. Help, help! Two teenagers hear it. For a split second, they freeze, but then they run. They don't know what they're running toward, only that something is very wrong. Fifteen seconds later, they reach the pathway. And what they find stops them cold. A girl is lying face down on the ground, and there's blood everywhere. At first they can't tell who it is. It looks like she's been struck in the head, but she's still alive, barely. And in an instant, the sounds of the park, the games, the laughter, and the normalcy all seem to disappear in the background. Because in that moment, everything changes. Laura Michelle Zendry was born on April 2nd, 1995, to Michael and Rachel. She grew up in a close-knit family alongside her older sister Sarah, who was three years older than her. And when people describe Laura, one thing becomes obvious almost immediately. She left an impression on people. Her parents described her as a feisty, passionate, and strong-willed girl. She had this huge laugh that could fill a room and the kind of personality people naturally gravitated toward. Laura loved sports, especially soccer, and she was deeply involved in her church community. Those were the places where she felt most like herself. But what really stands out when you hear people talk about Laura is the future she imagined for herself. She wanted to become a nurse and work with sick children someday. And honestly, I think that dream says a lot about the person that she was. Maybe I'm just being biased because I'm a nurse. But it does seem that she really cared deeply about people. Laura also talked openly about wanting a family one day. She wanted to get married, and she wanted four children. And apparently, she had already decided that she would never charge them rent if they lived at home as adults. Which honestly feels like a specific 15-year-old thing to say. But it also tells you exactly what kind of heart that she had. Laura attended Burnsview Secondary School, where she was in grade 10 French immersion. Friends described her as kind, hardworking, humble, and easy to trust. The kind of person people felt safe around. And that's what makes what happened next feel so unbelievably cruel. On September 25th, 2010, Laura had simple plans. She was meeting friends at Mackie Park. Some of them had lived on the opposite side of the park, and walking through those trails was completely normal for local teenagers. Laura had walked them there many times before. And that Saturday, the park was busy. There were sports events happening, families everywhere, and it was broad daylight. Nothing about that afternoon felt dangerous. Just before 1 PM, Laura began walking along one of the wooded pathways. Minutes later, her friends heard screaming, and they immediately ran toward the sound. When they arrived and they saw her lying face down on the ground with blood everywhere. At first they didn't recognize her, and then suddenly they do. It's Laura. The same friend that they had been about to meet only moments earlier. Panic takes over instantly. One of them calls 911. Emergency crews rush to the scene, and Laura is transported to Royal Columbian Hospital. But despite every effort to save her, Laura dies the following morning with her family by her side. Back at the park, investigators move quickly. Police tape off the trails and begin canvassing the area, interviewing anyone who may have seen or heard something. And then one detail catches their attention. Laura's friends mention a young man. They say that shortly after they found Laura, a guy approached them and claimed he had heard something suspicious. He even offered to help search for whoever attacked her. At first glance, maybe it sounded helpful, but looking back, it feels deeply unsettling. Witnesses describe him as somewhere between 16 and 25 years old, with a medium build, wearing a white t-shirt, cargo shorts, and carrying a backpack. He had reportedly been seen leaving the park around the same time as the attack. Police quickly release the description publicly. Because in investigations like this, we all know that timing matters. And detectives believe someone out there knows exactly who this young man is. As the days pass, the entire Delta community is grieving. On September 29th, a private funeral is held for Laura, and one detail draws public attention almost immediately: the presence of members of the Hells Angels. For listeners outside of Canada, the Hells Angels are widely associated by law enforcement with organized crime activity, although the organization disputes those claims. So naturally, people notice when multiple members attend the funeral of a 15-year-old girl. Later reporting explains that Laura's father, Michael, was friends with some members, but was not involved with the organization himself. They had reportedly attended simply to support a grieving friend during an unimaginable loss. Then on October 1st, a public memorial is held at the North Delta Recreation Center. Hundreds of teenagers attended. And honestly, scenes like this are always heartbreaking. Because when someone dies that young, you don't just mourn who they were, you're also mourning everything they were supposed to become. As weeks passed, the shock across Delta began turning into fear. Parents were nervous and students were uneasy. Young women were looking over their shoulders on pathways that had always felt ordinary, and police still did not have an arrest. What they did have was a person they urgently wanted to identify. Investigators were following every possible lead. They received hundreds of tips, and they spoke to witnesses, neighbors, students, and anyone who may have been in or around Mackie Park that afternoon. They also looked into an incident from the previous weekend, when Laura and some friends had been maced during a confrontation. For a brief moment, police considered whether it could be connected, but after looking into it further, they determined it was not related, and there was another lead that was gone. And then investigators began looking harder at something else. Because Laura's attack may not have been the first. In the months before Laura was killed, there had been other frightening incidents involving women in North Delta. On may twenty fourth, an eighteen year old woman was walking along a pathway connecting the one one two zero zero block of ninety-two A Avenue to Kendall Way when someone came up behind her and struck her in the head. Police believed the person may have been carrying a blunt object and a knife. Then on June 7th, another woman was jogging near the 10600 block of Santa Monica Drive when she was struck in the head with an unknown object. Different victims, different locations, but the similarities were hard to ignore. Woman alone, public pathways, sudden attacks from behind with blunt force violence. And now there's Laura. Investigators were no longer just looking at one horrific attack in a park. They were looking at the possibility of a pattern. Someone in the area may have been escalating, and that possibility made the case even more urgent. As investigators continue piecing the case together, another strategy quietly began unfolding behind the scenes, something known as a Mr. Big operation. Now, if you've never heard of this before, the Mr. Big technique is a uniquely Canadian undercover policing strategy, usually used in major cases where investigators strongly suspect someone is responsible, but yet don't have enough evidence to lay charges. And honestly, it's one of the most elaborate investigative tactics out there. Police essentially create an entirely fake criminal organization from scratch. Undercover officers slowly befriend the suspect and begin drawing them in what appears to be a powerful criminal network, offering money, status, friendship, and protection. None of it is real. Every interaction is staged, every conversation is carefully planned. Investigators spend months studying the suspect's personality, habits, insecurities, and interests so the operation feels believable. The ultimate goal is to build trust, because eventually, the suspect is introduced to the fictional boss of the organization, the person known as quote-unquote Mr. Big. And by that point, the message becomes clear. If you want to stay part of this group, you need to be honest about your past. That's when confessions often happen. And in Laura's case, investigators believed this strategy might be their best chance at finally learning the truth. Part of the undercover operation reportedly involved a staged video game competition, something specifically designed around the suspect's interest. Over time, he was to a man he believed was a wealthy and influential entertainment executive, someone powerful enough to make problems disappear. Slowly, the suspect became more comfortable and more trusting, and eventually, he started talking. The operation ultimately led to a confession, and it also led them to physical evidence. Investigators were able to locate the murder weapon, which was a metal pipe found inside his father's workshop. Police also discovered something else that prosecutors later described as deeply disturbing: a homemade choking device constructed from plastic zap straps. And suddenly, investigators were no longer dealing with just theories or suspicions. They had admissions, they had evidence, and they finally had the person responsible for what happened to Laura Zendry. Police arrested a 17-year-old boy whose name was under a publication ban for many years as he was underage. As the case moves through court, horrifying details begin emerging about what happened inside Mackey Park that day. During sentencing, Crown Prosecutor Wendy Stephen tells the court that the 17-year-old offender woke up that morning with an urge to have sex and had already decided he was going to act on it. The court hears that after working with his father earlier that day, he packed that metal pipe and zap straps before heading to Mackey Park. And then he saw Laura, a random fifteen-year-old girl he had never met before. He approached her, pretending he needed help with his bike chain. And because Laura was the kind of person who stopped to help people, she went over to him, and that's when he grabbed her. When Laura fought back and tried to escape, he attempted to place a zap strap around her neck to render her unconscious, so he could sexually assault her. But Laura breaks free and she runs. That's when he strikes her in the head with a metal pipe, and she kept running, and he hit her again. The second blow knocks her to the ground, and then as Laura lay there crying, he approaches her and strikes her a third time. And then she went silent. Then comes the most chilling details of the entire case. After attacking Laura and leaving her critically injured, the offender returns to the scene. By then, Laura's friends are gathered around her trying to desperately help her. He walks up to them, pretending to be a concerned bystander, and tells them he heard something suspicious, just like Laura's friends had mentioned earlier. He offers to help search for the attacker, stands there among the chaos he created, looking at the girl he just attacked, which honestly is deeply disturbing behavior psychologically. During the undercover operation, he later admits to attacking three other women leading up to Laura's murder. One woman he chased and grabbed, another he attempted to sexually assault while she jogged, and another he hit in the head with a stick because he believed disabling her would allow him to touch her or assault her. While in custody, he later tells psychiatrist he believed his actions were driven by anxiety around women and his lack of sexual experience. But the judge rejects that explanation completely. Instead, he describes the offender as a sexually motivated murderer, which he is. As court proceedings continue, forensic psychologists attempt to explain the mindset behind the escalating violence. One psychologist tells the court the offender held an irrational belief that having sex, regardless of consent, would somehow cure his anxiety around interacting with women. A completely distorted and dangerous way of thinking. The offender was originally charged with first degree murder, likely because prosecutors believed the attack involved planning, but he later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, meaning the Crown accepted that they may not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder was fully planned and deliberate. Which I don't understand how it wasn't planned and deliberate when you go to a park to harm someone and you bring weapons with you. Sometimes the Canadian justice system is so flawed. And then the court faced a major question: should he be sentenced as a youth or as an adult, being that he was only 17 at the time of the attack? One forensic psychologist from Simon Fraser University testified that he believed the offender showed remorse and did not fit the profile of a sadistic offender. He described them as socially isolated, inexperienced with girls, and someone who spent much of his time alone playing video games. There was reportedly no history of substance abuse, no evidence of violence inside the home, and no major criminal background. That psychologist recommended a youth sentence, which would have meant a total of seven years, only four years in custody. But other experts strongly disagreed. Two psychiatrists argued he should absolutely receive an adult sentence because of the escalating pattern of violence and danger he posed to women. And honestly, when you look at the progression of attacks, it's hard not to see the escalation happening in real time, from inappropriate touching to attempted sexual assault to blunt force attacks to murder. Eventually, the court makes its decision. During sentencing, the offender addresses Laura's family directly. He tells the court he took Laura's life, destroyed her family, and shattered the sense of safety inside the Delta community. He says he does not deserve forgiveness. And from the gallery, Laura's mother responds through unimaginable grief, quote, you don't deserve forgiveness, end quote. In the end, the offender is sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for seven years. The maximum sentence available for a minor convicted of second-degree murder in Canada at the time. And honestly, cases like this stay with community for years because Laura wasn't targeted over some personal conflict. She wasn't involved in dangerous activity. She wasn't doing anything reckless. She was simply walking through a park on a Saturday afternoon to meet friends. And that randomness is terrifying. I am always telling those close to me and my friends, especially those that like to run and jog in areas. Just be careful. Look at your surroundings. Don't go helping some random stranger. I know this world is so hard and sad that we can't just go and help somebody, but you can't trust anybody these days. I don't want to cause anxiety, but I just want people to be alert and make sure that they're aware of their surroundings for sure. That's what I'm trying to get at here. Police eventually released the name of Laura's killer publicly, Wyatt De Bruin. However, the publication ban of photographs remained in place, meaning that to this day, the public still does not officially know what he looks like. And believe me, I tried to look for any picture of Wyatt De Bruin, and I could not find any. Wyatt was sentenced in 2013 to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. And as part of that sentence, he became eligible to apply for parole after seven years, which would have been around 2020, depending on credit for time already served before sentencing. However, parole eligibility does not mean automatic release. As of now, there does not appear to be any confirmed public reporting stating whether De Brune was granted parole, denied parole, or remains incarcerated, as Canadian parole decisions are not always made widely public, especially with underage offenders. After Laura's death, her family and community made sure her story would become about more than violence and more than the headlines, more than the worst day of their lives. In the years that followed, memorials and scholarships were created in Laura's honor. Not to just remember how she died, but to reflect on who she was while she was here. A memorial garden was built at Burnsview Secondary School, filled with flowers, benches, and quiet spaces where students could sit and remember her. The community also helped create the Laura Zendry Memorial Scholarship Foundation, which raised money for scholarships, youth programs, and crime awareness initiatives in her name through an annual walk-run role event. Another scholarship was later established for students involved in sports, volunteerism, and community service, the same qualities people said defined Laura's life. And fittingly, there was even a Memorial Athletic Award connected to woman's soccer, one of the sports Laura loved the most. Because the people who knew Laura refused to let her only be remembered for what happened in Mackey Park. They wanted people to remember the girl who laughed loudly, the girl who dreamed of becoming a nurse, the girl who wanted four children someday. The girl who stopped to help someone she thought needed it. And maybe that's the part of this story that stays with people the longest. Not the violence, not the court case, not the fear that settled over the community afterwards. But the fact that in a world where terrible things can happen so suddenly, there are still people whose kindness leaves a mark long after they're gone. That's it from me today. I'll be back in a couple weeks with a new episode. Don't forget to follow me on Facebook or Instagram at Valley of Secrets Podcast. And please consider leaving a five star review on whatever platform you listen on. Just a heads up there are some photos of this case on my social media accounts, so if you're interested, go into Take a look. Until next time, stay safe, stay aware, stay curious, and stay off those trails.