Michael Durant

Overview

Michael Durant was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Cassey Cichocki and Diane Dimitri. Justice James Ramsay sentenced him to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years on November 29, 2012.

Timeline

• August 9, 2003 — Diane Dimitri was found in a ditch on Darby Rd. in Welland.
• Early December 2005 — Cassey Joyce Cichocki vanished without a trace from the city’s downtown.
• January 23, 2006 — Donald Lafranboise spotted what appeared to be a large piece of white plastic on Whirlpool Rd.
• January 24, 2006 — The body of Cassey Cichocki was discovered near Whirlpool Rd. and Church’s Lane; Durant was pictured in court as his trial proceeded.
• January 2006 — A pathologist examined Cichocki’s body after advanced decomposition.
• January 2006 — Michael Durant was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Cichocki’s death.
• June 16, 2006 — Durant made a court appearance in St. Catharines to answer the new first-degree murder charge.
• Summer 2003 — Testimony described Diane Dimitri being hit in the head with a hammer and an account of events at Durant’s Toby Cres. garage.
• Fall 2003 — Dana Arnold gave earlier testimony to police that was later challenged in court.
• Fall 2007 — Dana Arnold met with police and told them Durant was responsible for Diane Dimitri’s death.
• November 19, 2012 — Closing arguments period: Michael Lacy addressed the jury; the Crown was expected to give its closing address the following Tuesday.
• November 29, 2012 — The jury foreperson announced Durant was guilty of two counts of first-degree murder; Justice James Ramsay sentenced him to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years for 25 years.

The offence

Michael Durant was found guilty of killing two women: Cassey Cichocki and Diane Dimitri.

Diane Dimitri (32)

Diane Dimitri was 32 years old. Her body was found in a ditch on Darby Rd. on August 9, 2003, in Welland near the Niagara Falls border. During trial testimony, jurors heard that she was hit in the head with a hammer.

Dana Arnold, who was married to Durant at the time, testified she came home to find a badly injured Dimitri in their home. Arnold testified Durant made her drive to a rural area near the boundary of Welland and Niagara Falls, where she said Dimitri’s body was dumped.

Michael Lacy, Durant’s lawyer, maintained that Arnold was a skilled liar and that Dimitri’s killer was her former boyfriend, described in court as a drug addict who later died of a drug overdose. Lacy contended that the case against Durant in relation to the Cichocki murder was circumstantial, and his closing address also challenged Arnold’s version of the events in August 2003.

During the trial, it was suggested earlier that Dimitri, her boyfriend, Raymond Gallan, and Durant were partying and doing drugs in Durant’s garage on Toby Cres. when the boyfriend became angry with Dimitri and struck her in the head with a hammer. Defence counsel Michael Lacy suggested the boyfriend and Gallan left with a badly injured Dimitri and that Durant stayed behind to clean up blood.

Raymond Gallan, a former drug addict, testified that despite being a heavy user of heroin and cocaine in that summer, he was not present when Dimitri was killed. Gallan testified he last saw Dimitri alive in early August, possibly two to three days before her body was discovered on August 9, 2003.

The jury also heard that Durant was not seen alive after entering Durant’s Queen St. apartment on Dec. 5, 2006, while the Crown contended that fact; Lacy said there was no evidence to support it.

Cassey Cichocki (22)

Cassey Cichocki was 22. Her body was discovered in an isolated area in the north end of Niagara Falls in 2006; it was also described as being found near Whirlpool Rd. and Church’s Lane, with her body discovered on January 24, 2006. The trial included graphic photographs of her head wounds, including a photo showing her neck wrapped with duct tape and her face and head covered in blood, with her body draped in a bed sheet.

Crown attorney David King contended that Durant incapacitated Cichocki in his Queen St. apartment, took her into the basement, and beat her to death. The young woman suffered more than a dozen blows to the head. Four drops of blood were found on the underside of a staircase leading to the basement.

The Crown maintained that Durant cleaned the area with acid and applied a fresh coat of paint to the floors, top of the stairs, and parts of the walls.

A pathologist, Dr. Chitra Rao of Hamilton General Hospital, testified that Cichocki died from blunt force injuries to her head and face. Rao stated that Cichocki suffered multiple facial fractures and lacerations, and that facial wounds often result in massive bleeding; she testified that a person can inhale or swallow blood leading in asphyxia, though she could not say for certain if that was the case because she couldn’t determine the degree of blood loss due to the body’s advanced decomposition when she examined it in January 2006. Rao said Cichocki had cocaine in her system at the time of her death, and that cocaine could result in adverse effects on internal organs such as irregular heartbeat or cardiac arrest. She also testified that the toxic effects of cocaine involve all the organs and exaggerate the effects of injury.

Rao testified that Cichocki’s jaw bone was fractured in several places and would have taken “considerable force” to inflict such an injury, and that it would have taken “quite a lot of force” to fracture it. Rao testified that Cichocki’s teeth were loose and that one tooth was found in her stomach. Rao told Crown attorney Jeffrey Richardson that the young woman could not have lived more than six hours after the injuries were inflicted.

A Niagara Falls man, Donald Lafranboise, testified he was walking his dog along Whirlpool Rd. when he spotted what appeared to be a large piece of white plastic lying on the ground on January 23, 2006. Lafranboise testified that when he returned the next day he realized it was a bed sheet covering a woman’s body.

Investigation

Det. Const. Tracey Rinaldo, a member of the Niagara Regional Police forensic services unit, processed the scene inside an apartment connected to Durant’s Queen St. address. Dozens of photographs of Durant’s Queen St. apartment and graphic photographs of Cichocki were shown to the jury.

Rinaldo testified she spent approximately four days processing the scene inside the apartment at 4670 Queen St. The apartment was in a former store converted into a three-bedroom apartment. Various construction materials, including paint cans and tools, were found throughout the building.

Rinaldo submitted photographs of a former Canadian Tire store on Victoria Ave. Court was told the officer also sprayed the trunk liner of Durant’s ex-wife’s former vehicle with a chemical agent that reacts with blood to create a temporary fluorescent effect. Rinaldo said she received a “positive reaction” from the spray, but that positive reactions can arise from products other than blood. Subsequent testing of the liner at the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto did not yield any positive results.

Male DNA found on duct tape wrapped around Cichocki’s neck did not belong to Durant.

In police interviews, Durant had been eager to provide police a sample of his DNA when he was arrested in connection with Cichocki’s death. At one point during a police interview, he pulled out a handful of his hair and dropped it on a table in front of a police officer.

Arrest and charges

Durant was arrested in January 2006 and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Cichocki’s death. Seven months later, he was charged with first-degree murder in connection with Dimitri’s death.

During trial proceedings, the Crown attorney David King and defence counsel Michael Lacy described the evidentiary accounts tied to these charges.

In another matter, the schedule of proceedings included that Durant had been expected to last between four and six months and to include testimony from more than 200 witnesses.

Trial

Court and jury

A six-man, six-woman jury deliberated for almost 65 hours over seven days before reaching a verdict on Wednesday afternoon prior to the sentencing. Durant dressed in a wrinkled green dress shirt and black dress pants and showed no emotion as the verdict was read.

The trial was held in Welland Superior Court before Judge James Ramsay.

Plea

Durant pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.

Evidence and witness testimony

Photographs and forensic evidence

apartment and a graphic photo of Cichocki—her neck wrapped with duct tape—were shown to the jury.

One photo showed Cichocki’s body in a wooded area off Whirlpool Rd. near Churchs Lane. Her head and face were covered in blood and her neck was wrapped with duct tape, and her body was draped in a bed sheet.

Medical and toxicology evidence

Dr. Chitra Rao testified about blunt force injuries to the head and face and described facial fractures, lacerations, the possibility of asphyxia from massive bleeding, decomposition limiting certainty about blood loss, and cocaine in her system. Rao described fractures to the jaw bone and force required to inflict such injury, loose teeth, and that one tooth was found in her stomach. Rao testified that Cichocki could not have lived more than six hours after the injuries were inflicted.

Testimony about events leading to Dimitri’s death

Dana Arnold testified she returned to her Toby Cres. home one night in August 2003 to find her then-husband covered in blood and a badly injured Dimitri in the garage. Arnold testified Durant put Dimitri in the back of the family car and ordered Arnold to drive to the outskirts of Welland where he dumped her body in a ditch.

Arnold testified she admitted she originally lied to police about her involvement out of fear of her husband. She later met with police in the fall of 2007 and told them Durant was responsible for Dimitri’s death.

In cross-examination, defence counsel Michael Lacy attacked Arnold’s credibility and suggested her interviews with police showed multiple versions of events. Lacy referred to Arnold’s earlier testimony that Durant forced her to drive him and a badly injured Diane Dimitri to a rural area where Arnold said he dumped Dimitri’s body in a ditch.

Arnold defended herself for a second day against her ex-husband’s lawyer’s attacks on her credibility. Arnold and Lacy exchanged statements during cross-examination:

• Lacy asked Arnold: “There are so many versions we can’t even keep track of them, right?”
• Arnold replied: “I am going to suggest you don’t know what the truth is any more, correct?”
• Lacy told Arnold: “You’re a pretty convincing liar,”
• Arnold replied: “I don’t think so,”

Arnold stated:

• “The truth needs to come out and Mike needs to own up for what he did.”
• “The families need closure,”
• “Did the families not deserve closure in August 2003?”

Lacy countered:

• “Are you trying to set yourself up as a martyr to the family?”

Arnold replied:

• “No, I’m not a martyr,”

During trial testimony, Raymond Gallan stated he was a heavy user of heroin and cocaine in that summer but testified he was not present when Dimitri was killed. Gallan testified he knew Dimitri and her boyfriend from “the night life in Niagara Falls,” most notably from a cafe that was "infested with drugs," and he described the couple’s relationship as rocky and characterized by abuse:

• “He was always hitting her,”
• “It was a bully romance relationship.” Gallan testified he warned the boyfriend to leave Dimitri alone.

Gallan’s cross-examination was described as pointing to inconsistencies between his testimony and what he originally told police, and Gallan told Judge James Ramsay he could no longer continue his testimony.

Defence arguments

Michael Lacy maintained that Arnold was lying and said it would be a miscarriage of justice to rely on her testimony. Lacy’s statements included:

• “Her evidence is hardly worth the oxygen she used to give it,”
• “To her the oath (to tell the truth) is meaningless,”
• “It would be a miscarriage of justice if you rely on what she has to say.”

Lacy argued in his closing address that Arnold’s account should not be accepted, and he disputed her claim that she was a battered spouse by pointing to letters Arnold wrote to Durant in jail. Lacy said those letters indicated she did not fear her ex-husband.

Lacy contended that Dimitri’s boyfriend attacked Dimitri in Durant’s Toby Cres. garage, describing the boyfriend’s “motive and opportunity” in his closing address:

• “He had motive and opportunity,” Lacy also said:
• “He had been consistent in his denial (of any involvement in the murders). Consistency is often the mark of truthfulness.”

Lacy stated:

• “If you have reasonable doubt, the law requires you to acquit Michael Durant,”

Lacy also addressed DNA-related issues:

• “Michael Durant was not afraid of what the tests would show,” and he said:
• “He had pulled out a handful of his hair and dropped it on a table in front of a police officer.”

Lacy argued that male DNA found on duct tape wrapped around Cichocki’s neck did not belong to Durant.

Crown contentions

The Crown contended that Durant incapacitated Cichocki in his Queen St. The Crown maintained that Durant cleaned the area with acid and applied a fresh coat of paint to floors, top of the stairs, and parts of the walls.

The Crown attorney David King also contended that Durant incapacitated Cichocki in his Queen St. apartment and beat her to death after taking her into the basement.

During the trial, it was also contended that Durant was not seen alive after entering Durant’s Queen St. apartment on Dec. 5, 2006; Lacy argued against this with no evidence to support it.

Sentencing

On November 29, 2012, Justice James Ramsay sentenced Michael Durant to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

Outcome

The six-man, six-woman jury found Michael Durant guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.

Aftermath

Friends and families of the murdered women rejoiced outside the courthouse. A man yelled:

• “Guilty! Guilty!” Wilma Kyle, Cichocki’s stepmother, expressed emotion and described the previous week:
• “The past seven days have been torture,”
• “We have been on pins and needles. We were just praying.” Kyle also said she was grateful the jury looked beyond the fact that the murdered women were involved in the sex trade to fuel a drug addiction:
• “They looked at these girls as human beings. They looked at them as our daughters.”

Kyriacos Kyriacou, Dimitri’s step-father, said:

• “This has been a long time coming. This has been a roller-coaster ride.” Kyriacou also said:
• “There is no closure,”
• “There will never be closure. But at least this is something that proves our system is working. We’re taking a bad human being off the streets so he will not do it again to anybody else.”

Kyriacou said he was raising Dimitri’s children and shielding them from media reports:

• “I’ve been really keeping them away from the core of all this,”
• “They do know what’s going on and I’m sure they will be very happy when I go home and tell them what happened.”

Wilma Kyle had also described her view before trial regarding Cichocki:

• “We as Cassey’s family are still missing her...loving her,”
• “The wounds are still very open.” Kyle said:
• “Cassey was a lost child that was so very loved,”
• “I just want to remind everyone that knew Cichocki or my family what Cichocky meant to us and to please not judge her for what she did but to remember that she was a sweet child of God and loved her family so very much and was loved by her family.”

Other details

Michael Durant was 39 during the trial. He had been in custody since his arrest in 2006.

Raymond Gallan testified that he knew Dimitri and her boyfriend from “the night life in Niagara Falls,” including a cafe that was "infested with drugs." Gallan described the relationship as rocky and said he warned the boyfriend to leave Dimitri alone due to abuse.

The jury was shown graphic photographs. These included images related to Durant’s Queen St. apartment, Cichocki’s injuries, and evidence processed at the scene, including materials found throughout the building. Court heard there were mattresses and beer bottles on the main floor and bed sheets in the basement.

Cichocki was described as having vanished without a trace from downtown in early December 2005 and being found on January 24, 2006 near Whirlpool Rd. and Church’s Lane. Durant’s ex-wife Dana Arnold testified she was afraid at the time when she lied to police, and she later met with police in the fall of 2007 to provide a new account.

At one point during court proceedings, Durant’s lawyer Michael Lacy described Arnold’s testimony as not worth the oxygen and argued it would be a miscarriage of justice to rely on it.