Airdrie resident Hunter van Mackelberg has been convicted with second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Kalix Langenau, whose body was found southeast of Airdrie on Feb. 17, 2020.
Justice Glen H. Poelman read out his reasoning and the final ruling on Feb. 22, following an earlier judge-alone trial that was held in October and November 2021.
“Not all questions about the case have been answered, which the defence properly points out,” Poelman said. “There was no forensic evidence linking either men to each other’s vehicle and one can only speculate how and why they both ended up at the murder scene.
“However, many criminal cases cannot answer questions on every detail and the Crown is not obliged to do so to meet its burden of proof. On the evidence before me, I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that [van Mackelberg] met [Langenau] at the secluded property and murdered him by firing his shotgun at the back of his head.”
On Feb. 15, 2020, van Mackelberg shot Kalix Langenau in the back of the head at point-blank range, according to the judge’s verdict. Both were 19 years old at the time.
Langenau and van Mackelberg were involved in a sequence of romantic relationships with two women between 2017 and 2019, the judge noted. Evidence in the Crown’s theory stated van Mackelberg had developed animus towards Langenau for dating his former girlfriend and claimed Langenau had abused his girlfriend, Madeline Kot, when she was in a previous relationship with Langenau.
Though he grew up in Airdrie, Langenau moved to Vancouver in fear of van Mackelberg hurting him or his family. Testimony from Langenau’s close relatives and friends referred to an incident where Langenau’s vehicle's windows were shot out, which he believed was done by van Mackelberg.
While the judge accepted those testimonies as evidence of animosity towards Langenau, he said the testimony did not prove van Mackelberg actually vandalized Langenau’s vehicle.
“Animus is relevant as it may form part of motive. [Van Mackelberg’s] animus towards [Langenau] is part of a chain of reasoning that increases the likelihood that he was the person who killed [Langenau],” Poelman argued.
Five months before Langenau’s death, van Mackelberg texted Kot that Langenau would not be a problem much longer, to which Kot replied by instructing van Mackelberg not to touch Langenau.
In February 2020, during a short visit to Calgary over the Family Day weekend, Langenau contacted Kot and the two planned to meet up at the Costco parking lot in Balzac.
Van Mackelberg was aware of the contact between Kot and Langenau, and placed a two-minute call to Langenau that same night.
Kot left her residence, where she lived with van Mackelberg in Airdrie, around 1:17 a.m. on Feb. 15 and van Mackelberg followed her in his own vehicle soon afterward. Langenau left his mother’s residence in Calgary at 1:12 a.m. on Feb. 15.
After Kot and Langenau met at the Balzac Costco, Kot returned home around 2:30 a.m. while van Mackelberg returned at 3:09 a.m. Before he returned home, telephone data showed van Mackelberg made four calls to a number associated with his father from a location near where Langenau’s body was later recovered.
Months later, van Mackelberg referred to those phone calls in a confession to a friend, stating he should not have listened to his father to leave the body and instead should have buried it so nobody could have found it.
Around 1:50 p.m. on Feb. 15, CCTV evidence showed van Mackelberg outside the residence of a man he previously bought firearms from. He returned the firearms without asking for any money in return and with the request not to hand over the guns to police, which the judge said was relevant evidence of his guilt.
Langenau was reported missing after Feb. 15, failing to meet his father for dinner plans and to make his return flight to Vancouver. On Feb. 17, his body was located and identified near the vehicle he had been driving at a secluded location southeast of Airdrie.
An autopsy determined the manner of Langenau’s death was a shotgun wound to the back of the head from a close range. Both the defence and Crown attorneys stated this could not have been an accident and agreed Langenau’s cause of death was murder.
Forensic evidence connected recently fired shot shells at the scene with van Mackelberg’s shotgun and cell phone data placed him close to the scene that night.
Van Mackelberg confessed to Kot in late February 2020, according to her testimony, providing details such as shooting Langenau in the back of the head, which had not been publicly released at that time. He told Kot it was an accident.
“Additional weight is added by [van Mackelberg] telling her he shot [Langenau] in the back of the head…this was information that the police had withheld from release. The fact that [van Mackelberg]’s statement to [Kot] coincided with police holdback information is supportive of its truth,” justice Poelman said.
The defence pointed out that there was a lack of evidence regarding how van Mackelberg and Langenau got to the area where Langenau’s vehicle and his body were found, and noted an absence of forensic evidence linking Langenau to van Mackelberg’s clothing or vehicle.
After being arrested, van Mackelberg maintained his innocence during several extensive interviews with police, but Poelman said details of his story varied over the course of interviews as more evidence was uncovered.
A second-degree murder conviction comes with a life sentence of 25 years.
The case will return to Criminal Appearance Court (CAC) on March 4 to set a sentencing date. Victim impact statements will be heard and the judge will hear arguments on when van Mackelberg can apply for parole.
