SaskatchewanA witness at the trial of the man charged with second-degree murder in the 2006 death of Misha Pavelick said the accused had been acting “like a lunatic” after learning of his death.The 36-year-old-accused was constantly on his phone after news of Misha Pavelick’s death, a witness saysAliyah Marko-Omene · CBC News · Posted: Oct 27, 2025 5:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 6 minutesMisha Pavelick, 19, was stabbed to death at a party on May 21, 2006, near Regina Beach. (Submitted by Saskatchewan RCMP)The man charged with second-degree murder in the death of Misha Pavelick was standing in a group of people, one of whom said they had a knife, before Pavelick was killed, a witness told Regina Court of King’s Bench on Monday.Pavelick, 19, was fatally stabbed at the Kinookimaw campground near Regina Beach, about 45 kilometres northwest of Regina, on May 21, 2006.Kayla Kemp, who was 18 at the time, says she saw two knives on the dashboard of the man accused of killing Pavelick. The accused, who is now 36, can’t be named because he was 17 at the time.He has pleaded not guilty to the offence. Kemp said she had gone up to the campground with a few carloads of friends, including the accused, at the invitation of someone she knew. She remembered arriving at the campground when she noticed two folding knives sitting on the accused’s dashboard. Kemp told the court the group had been walking around the campground when they came across the tent of a girl she “had issues with.” They had been trying to get into the tent and get a hold of the girl when Kemp said she heard the accused offer to cut it open if needed. ‘That’s what you get’Another witness said she was sitting near the campfire that night when a couple of her friends warned her to leave because a group of people had arrived at the party and were looking for her. The witness’s identity is protected under the Youth and Criminal Justice Act because she was 17 years old at the time.She told the court she went to sleep in her tent with her boyfriend, to avoid any conflict.“I woke up to my tent being surrounded and then being attacked in my tent,” she said.She got emotional as she described looking up to see a handful of girls at the door of the tent, before they yanked her out by her arm. She said the whole encounter lasted around 10 minutes. “Are you aware of, or were you aware at the time, of [the accused]?” Crown prosecutor Adam Breker asked. She said she knew of the accused at the time, and he was at her tent when the altercation happened.“He just said, ‘That’s what you get,’” she said, adding that he approached her after the altercation ended. There was no animosity between her and the accused at that time, she said.‘He was excited’Another witness who had been in the group with Kemp and the accused that night said it all escalated after they left the tent. This witness cannot be named because she was also 17 years old at the time.She said Pavelick smashed a bottle over Perkin’s head. That’s when Pavelick’s ex-girlfriend came up to him and started slapping him “repeatedly in the face,” she testified. Witness at Misha Pavelick murder trial blames intoxication for earlier statements about fatal 2006 stabbing Another bottle then came flying and hit Scott Nelson in the head, who the witness later identified to be coming from Derek Enns. Nelson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2007 for attacking Enns. He testified at the trial last week. The witness said as some of the boys in her group, including the accused, started to chase Pavelick and she ran back up to the vehicle where she met Nelson. “I didn’t see Misha after that,” she said. The accused arrived back at the car later that night where he passed over a beer bottle, the court heard. The witness said after she grabbed the beer bottle, her hand felt sticky and she looked down to see blood on her hand. “He was excited,” she described the accused at the time.The witness said his demeanor had been even more evident to her because the rest of the group had been so scared. After getting in the car of the accused to head to Regina Beach, she also noticed two folding knives, the court heard. WATCH | Accused bragged about stabbing someone, witness says:Man accused in death of Misha Pavelick bragged about stabbing someone, witness saysWarning: This video contains graphic details. The man charged with second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Misha Pavelick during a 2006 graduation party at a campground near Regina Beach bragged about stabbing someone that night, a witness at the trial said. Scott Nelson said the accused started to cry and act erratically after they left the scene.Crown attorney Adam Breker asked the witness if she had ever heard anything of those two knives that night. The witness said the first time she had heard of knives was when the group got to Regina Beach after leaving the campground. The accused had just received a phone call where he heard Pavelick had died, which he shared with the group, she testified. The witness said that one of the knives had belonged to Nelson and one of them belonged to the accused. She said Nelson had started to ask the accused about where one of the knives had gone and he was ignored. She told the court she left the discussion and went to sit in a car with her friend who had been sober. Minutes later the accused walked over with Nelson and a couple other friends before telling the witness to get out of the car so they could talk in private. The strange behaviour continued, the court heard. The witness said on the drive home from Regina Beach, Nelson had been in the trunk, when the car suddenly pulled over and the accused randomly got out and started running down the highway. Man accused of killing Misha Pavelick bragged about stabbing someone, Regina murder trial hears’Chaotic’ night led to murder of Misha Pavelick near Regina Beach, Crown saysIt took around ten minutes before one of their friends was able to coax the accused back into the car where he started “acting like a lunatic,” the court heard. The witness said the accused had been shouting repeatedly “who killed him.” “He was tormenting us,” she said. The witness said the accused was eventually cut off by the same person who ran after him earlier, who said they had been the one to kill Pavelick, in order to bring the conversation to an end.‘On his phone a lot’Kayleen Xander met up with the accused at a house party in Regina in the early hours of May 22, 2006, where they continued drinking. She told the court Monday she had seen the accused “was on the phone a lot,” during the party and constantly declining calls. The month-long trial was expected to continue Tuesday morning with testimony from more partygoers. ABOUT THE AUTHORAliyah Marko-Omene is a reporter for CBC Saskatchewan. She has previously worked for CBC and Toronto Star in Toronto. You can reach her at aliyah.marko@cbc.ca.
Witnesses recall accused’s erratic behaviour after learning of Misha Pavelick’s death in 2006
