‘You should believe me’: B.C. murder suspect says he is ‘not guilty’ in trial closing

The man accused of murdering Tatjana Stefanski in rural British Columbia in 2024 told B.C. Supreme Court jury members in Kamloops that they should believe that he’s not guilty. 

Vitali Stefanski, who’s accused of second-degree murder in the death of his ex-wife, had previously been represented by a lawyer, but jurors were told last week that he would be representing himself for the rest the trial, including for closing arguments.

Tatjana Stefanski’s body was found with numerous stab wounds off a rural forest service road near Lumby, B.C., in April 2024, and the trial heard that a bent and bloodied knife found nearby had the DNA of both Tatjana and Vitali Stefanski.

Vitali Stefanski testified during the trial in his defence, saying his ex-wife stabbed herself in his car and he denied dumping her body, instead saying she slipped from his grasp by the road and fell down an embankment.

Crown lawyer Laura Drake told the jury in her closing arguments that the only reasonable conclusion from the evidence is that Vitali Stefanski stabbed his ex-wife to death, and that his explanation of events was inconsistent with common sense. 

Stefanski told the jury today that what the Crown claims happened was “actually opposite and even wrong.”

Two Mounties testified during the trial that Stefanski confessed to killing his ex-wife when he emerged shoeless from the forest as officers followed a tow truck pulling his bloodstained car.

Stefanski denied the confession during his testimony and made the same assertion on Thursday.

“I never said that,” he said. 

“That statement does not exist, so that does not exist, and he has no proof that it does exist,” he said referring to an RCMP officer’s testimony. 

Stefanski noted that one officer testified that he did not write down the interaction in his police notebook.

An admissions of fact, which was signed by Stefanski’s lawyer, said the RCMP lab that analyzed the swabs taken from inside the Audi also found two DNA profiles — Tatjana and Vitali Stefanski.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

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