British Columbia·NewA B.C. Supreme Court Justice found 25-year-old Zain Xavier Wood guilty of first-degree murder for fatally stabbing a Prince George, B.C., mother in front of her two children in 2023. Zain Xavier Wood, 25, was found guilty of 1st-degree murder in the death of Isabelle ThomasHanna Petersen · CBC News · Posted: Nov 10, 2025 11:13 PM EST | Last Updated: 16 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Friends and family hold up T-shirts made in support of Isabelle Thomas , who was murdered in Prince George, B.C., in 2023. (Hanna Petersen/CBC)A B.C. Supreme Court Justice found 25-year-old Zain Xavier Wood guilty of first-degree murder for fatally stabbing a Prince George, B.C., mother in front of her two children in 2023. Justice Michael Tammen agreed with Crown prosecutors that 22-year-old Isabelle Thomas was murdered in her home at the Alpine Village townhouse complex in Prince George, in front of her six-year-old and six-month-old daughters in a deliberate and planned manner. The courtroom heard that Wood was inside the townhouse for approximately 35 seconds and killed Thomas on the second floor, stabbing her 16 times.“The attack was brutal, sustained and lethal,” said Tammen, adding that because of the nature of the attack he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Wood specifically intended to kill her.Born and raised in Prince George and a member of the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation, Thomas worked as a dietary aide. She and Wood briefly dated in 2019, according to an agreed statement of facts. Judge calls PlayStation 4 story ‘ludicrous’ At the beginning of the trial, Wood pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder but admitted to fatally stabbing Thomas, saying it wasn’t his intention to kill her. Wood testified he went to her home to steal a PlayStation 4 (PS4) gaming console and stabbed her when she startled him. “His testimony was an extremely poorly constructed and thin tissue of lies designed to evade criminal responsibility for his actions,” said Tammen. Wood was on house arrest for a previous offence at the time of the incident and was wearing an electronic monitoring device on his ankle. He testified he wanted to steal the PlayStation 4 to pay for his lawyer.Isabelle Thomas of the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation worked as a dietary aide. (Submitted by Leslie Thomas)“I do not believe his story that his reason for attending Alpine Village was to steal a PS4 gaming console. He would certainly have taken his backpack with him if that was his intended action,” said Tammen.“Moreover, it is ludicrous to think he would have targeted that house for the theft when he had last seen the somewhat outdated PS4 approximately a year earlier.” ‘Planned and deliberate’ Wood also claimed he was under the influence of alcohol and methamphetamine, experiencing paranoia, and hearing voices at the time of the offence. His defence argued that because of his mental state he should be found guilty of manslaughter, not first-degree murder.Tammen rejected Wood’s account of using drugs and hearing voices, citing multiple inconsistencies in the evidence heard at trial and the lack of drug paraphernalia found in Wood’s home. “That evidence was nothing more than a convenience contrived on Mr. Wood’s part as evidenced by his evolving account of the role the voices played in the commission of the offence,” said Tammen, adding “his evidence on drug usage at the relevant time is not worthy of belief.” Tammen also concluded there was compelling and overwhelming evidence that Wood planned and deliberated the attack over the course of one week. Supporters, friends and family of Isabelle Thomas gathered for a drum circle in front of the Prince George courthouse moments before the verdict was to be heard in court. (Hanna Petersen/CBC)Wood admitted to going to Thomas’s condo complex two other times in July 2023. On July 12, he spotted Thomas’s boyfriend and then left. The next day, he went back and ripped off her doorbell camera. Tammen said he rejected Wood’s explanation that he was there to do reconnaissance for a residential break-and-enter and that he impulsively disabled the doorbell camera. Instead, Tammen stated Wood was taking steps to minimize the chances of leaving an evidentiary trail that might lead to his identification. “The only reasonable inference to draw is that the murder of Ms. Thomas was planned and deliberate and thus first-degree murder.” A date for a sentencing hearing will be set on Nov. 27. ABOUT THE AUTHORHanna Petersen is a reporter for CBC News, working out of the Prince George, B.C., bureau. You can email her at hanna.petersen@cbc.ca.
Prince George man found guilty of 1st-degree murder in stabbing death of young mother
