New testimony details phone data, clothing tied to double homicide

Phone records and seized clothing linked to the accused in the 2021 Niagara Parkway double homicide formed the core of new testimony heard this week as the trial resumed in Superior Court in Welland. The evidence focused on the hours around the shootings and on items police say were recovered months later.

A jury heard the information from two Niagara Regional Police (NRP) detectives as the Crown outlined what investigators found after the deaths of 18-year-old Christine Crooks of Toronto and 20-year-old Juliana Pannunzio of Windsor at a short-term rental property in Fort Erie on January 19, 2021.

The Niagara Falls Review reported the updates as the case against 27-year-old Christopher Lucas, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, continued before Justice James Ramsay.

Detective Constable Sara Mummery testified Tuesday that incoming calls to a phone associated with Lucas went straight to voicemail after 12:30 a.m. on January 19. According to the Review, she said the device had previously logged multiple texts and calls per day.

Mummery reviewed extensive telecommunications records and surveillance gathered under an investigation police called “Project Parkway.” She said Crooks and Lucas exchanged multiple calls in the days before the shooting at the waterfront house.

Surveillance outlined for the jury included separate video of Lucas and of Heidi Bahler, the Scarborough resident who rented the Niagara Parkway home for a 29th birthday party for her friend Trevor Barnett.

The jury also heard Lucas was on probation at the time of the shootings. He stopped reporting to his probation officer after the incident, missed court dates in Toronto and was later arrested on an unrelated warrant in July 2021 at an Oakville apartment complex.

On Wednesday, Detective Jacob Braun described his role in the same investigation, telling court he posed as a property clerk at NRP headquarters in May 2021 to hand over seized items to Bahler. According to the Review, that step was taken to prompt monitored communications as investigators sought wiretap chatter.

Braun said he also monitored surveillance taken by a drop van positioned at a Toronto housing complex where Lucas’s mother and sister lived. Video collected from a Richmond Hill apartment complex showed Lucas entering while wearing what appeared to be the same clothing seen at the Fort Erie party.

In July 2021, Toronto and Halton police executed a warrant at an Oakville apartment. Officers seized a Glock handgun, a cell phone, three pairs of shoes and clothing, including a pair of pants and a sweater that matched items seen in party video.

Niagara police had earlier offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information. The amount increased to $100,000 in July 2021, around the time of the Oakville search. Lucas was charged in connection with the homicides the following month.

Earlier reporting stated Crooks had been invited to the Niagara Parkway gathering by Lucas, then a 22-year-old Toronto rapper known as ‘El Plaga,’ and that Pannunzio attended only through her connection to Crooks.

The trial, which began in October, is expected to continue with further testimony from investigators and witnesses as the court works through evidence gathered under Project Parkway.

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