Dillon Whitehawk stands trial for first-degree murder of Keesha Bitternose

Warning: The following story contains details that may be disturbing.

 

A man convicted of two separate murders earlier this year is back on trial for a third first-degree murder charge.

Dillon Ricky Whitehawk is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Keesha Cree Bitternose.

Regina police officers found Bitternose, 29, dead in a home in the 1500 block of Cameron Street on Jan. 5, 2020.

Whitehawk has pleaded not guilty, and elected to be tried by judge alone.

Bitternose was a mother of four, according to her obituary, and her “beautiful smile and big brown eyes will be forever cherished and remembered” by friends and family.

Regina Police Service (RPS) Cst. Todd Strueby, the Crown’s first witness, testified to being one of the first officers on scene.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2020, Strueby’s patrol car was dispatched to 1571 Cameron St. after someone had called about seeing an “unresponsive female” through the window inside the house, according to testimony.

Officers entered the house through the front window, Strueby said, after no one responded to their requests to open the door. They found Bitternose’s body inside near the back door.

Strueby recalled that Bitternose had two visible stab wounds, including a large, open wound on the side of her abdomen. There were bloodstains on the walls and floor, he added.

Police did not find anyone else in the home at the time.

Testifying in court, Cst. Curtis Warnar, a member of the RPS forensic identification unit, described the crime scene when he first arrived in the early morning hours of Jan. 6, 2020.

He said there was a large amount of blood found near the body.

Graphic photographs taken at the scene were not shown to the public in court. However, Warnar described the images, testifying that Bitternose had “trauma” to her face, right shoulder, stomach and back. She was found with a balled up black glove on her face, he said.

Forensic testing on the glove found a DNA profile that matched Whitehawk’s DNA, according to Warnar. Swabs taken of blood found throughout the house matched Bitternose’s DNA.

The Crown is expected to call a forensic pathologist and civilian witness to the stand on Tuesday.

The Crown is expected to call several RPS officers involved in the investigation as witnesses over the next week.

The trial is scheduled for two weeks at the Court of King’s Bench in Regina.

Kelly Stonechild, who was previously charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Bitternose on Sept. 7 at Regina Provincial Court.

Kurt Thomas, the third person charged in Bitternose’s death, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison with credit for time served in November 2021.

Whitehawk is currently serving a life sentence in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of Keenan Toto and Jordan Denton. The men were killed in separate drive-by shootings in late 2019. Whitehawk was sentenced in June 2022.

During that trial, court heard that the shootings were motivated by Whitehawk’s desire to rise in the ranks of his street gang, Indian Mafia.