B.C. man declared dangerous offender in manslaughter, dismemberment case

Storefronts on Canyon Street in Creston, B.C., on Aug. 12, 2023. (Shutterstock)

Warning: This story contains disturbing details.

A British Columbia man has been declared a dangerous offender and will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted in the 2015 death and dismemberment of a woman in the Kootenay region.

Nathaniel David Jessup was sentenced last month on one count each of manslaughter and indignity to human remains in the violent death of Katherine McAdam, a 59-year-old resident of Creston.

McAdam lived alone in a basement suite on Cedar Street, where she was fatally assaulted on Aug. 15, 2015, according to the sentencing judge.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dennis Hori said there was no evidence presented at trial about the nature of the relationship between the victim and Jessup, who was 28 years old and had no fixed address at the time of the assault.

However, Jessup and McAdam spent the night before the attack in McAdam's apartment, and the two were "associating in an apparently friendly manner" in the days before her death, according to the judge.

McAdam's manner of death is equally unclear.

Early that morning, she went to the door of an upstairs neighbour to ask for a cigarette. It was the last time anyone outside her apartment saw her alive, according to the court.

Within a matter of hours, according to evidence obtained from the crime scene, McAdam was assaulted in her bathroom and died, according to the judge, who found "no merit" to the defence's suggestion the events leading up to her death could have been of a "mild, benign, and verging on accident type."

Cause of death

McAdam's body was discovered 12 days later. It was found in seven pieces packed into a bicycle trailer on a property owned by the father of one of Jessup's friends on Aug. 27, 2015.

A hacksaw and clothing were also found in the trailer, comprising a scene the trial judge described as "of such a nature that it would shock any sense of decency," according to Hori's decision.

"The cause of death is not known and Ms. McAdam's remains provided virtually no evidence to allow a reliable determination about the cause of death," the judge wrote.

Jessup was charged with second-degree murder but the trial judge was not satisfied Jessup demonstrated the necessary intent to convict him of the offence, instead finding him guilty of manslaughter.

At trial, the court heard how the 28-year-old man tried to clean up McAdam's suite following the killing. He played loud music on her radio and made a "do not disturb" sign for her door to conceal his activity.

"Jessup undertook these post-mortem actions in an effort to destroy evidence that would assist the investigators," Hori wrote.

Violent history

Jessup's prior criminal history includes multiple convictions for violent offences, including aggravated assaults and child abduction. While incarcerated on those charges, he earned years of additional prison time for at least five separate assaults on correctional officers.

A forensic psychiatrist interviewed Jessup over two days in February 2023, finding the patient "has antisocial personality disorder, which in my view is quite severe and is responsible for his undesirable conduct," according to the report he provided to the court.

"His risk of offending is quite high," Dr. Kulwant Riar continued, citing Jessup's history of violence and unstable relationships. "This has to do with antisocial personality, substances use, criminal attitudes, impulsivity, aggressive reactivity, lack of insight, disregard for societal norms and values."

'Intractable' behaviour

Considering the psychiatric assessment, Hori wrote that Jessup likely "will not be able to overcome his violent behaviour," calling the offender's pattern of conduct "intractable."

Jessup's lawyer proposed a sentence of six to 12 years in prison for manslaughter, plus three years for indignity to human remains, arguing that while Jessup's risk to reoffend will remain high for at least the next decade, his propensity for violence is expected to decline "at around 50 years of age."

The judge declared Jessup a dangerous offender and sentenced him to an indeterminate prison sentence for manslaughter, plus three years for the indignity charge, saying even a marked reduction in Jessup's likelihood of reoffending would not necessarily moderate his behaviour to an acceptable level.

"I am not satisfied that any sentence less than a detention in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period would adequately protect the public from Mr. Jessup committing murder or a serious personal injury offence," Hori concluded.

Jessup was also ordered to provide a DNA sample for the national criminal data bank.