TIMELINE
2007 SAANICH POLICE OPT-OUT OF JOINING VIMCU
In 2007 Saanich Police opted out of the RCMP and Victoria Police deal to join forces to form VIMCU homicide unit because Saanich was happy with its own homicide clearance rate.
JANUARY 31ST 2008 THURSDAY EVENING 8:00 PM
Lindsay is talking on her house phone with her friend Rianne. Lindsay’s cell phone rings and Lindsay says, “Rianne, I’ve got to go, the Mexican’s are calling on my other line. I’ll call you back later”. That was the last time Rianne ever spoke to her friend Lindsay. With what Lindsay said to Rianne that evening it is clear that Lindsay had already spoken to the lady with the Spanish accent at an earlier time.
FEBRUARY 1ST 2008 FRIDAY MORNING, AFTERNOON AND EVENING
Lindsay spends the late morning and most of the afternoon with a close friend and does not arrive back at her Songhees condo until shortly before 4:00 pm. The girls spent a lot of time just chatting, having lunch together, having their nails done, getting Lindsay’s car washed etc. During this time Lindsay took calls from her new client and made a call to them.
At 7:15 pm Shirley Zailo shows up at Lindsay’s condo, but documents do not say why she was there or how long she was there. Shirley claims she overheard a 15-minute call between Lindsay and the client but that cannot be substantiated because only Shirley and Lindsay were in the condo at that time. Jason had left earlier as he had a hockey game later that evening. Jason returns home from playing hockey shortly before midnight.
At that time Jason reminds Lindsay that she had received a similar call from a woman about a month earlier and that the client’s $900K budget had been almost identical. But in that case the mysterious call had yielded a sale. Jason appears to have only brought this up to re-assure Lindsay about the upcoming showing. This is the story that Jason told the police, and because Lindsay was dead there was no way to verify that this conversation ever took place.
If it did, it would mean that Lindsay was still awake worrying about meeting the clients the next night. But because there is no record of Lindsay selling a home to a client that met similar requirements about a month earlier it just may be that there is no truth to the story that Jason told the police. And if the story wasn’t true why would Jason bother to tell it?
FEBRUARY 2ND 2008
Lindsay’s friends claim that on that day Lindsay was still very nervous about meeting the couple alone but as Jason had reassured her that he would be there she was feeling a little more relaxed. Just before meeting Jason for a late lunch at Sauce Lindsay stopped by the Re/Max Chatterton office. It was there that she shared her concerns with the receptionist and a few realtors who were in the office. One receptionist and a realtor that Lindsay spoke with said that Lindsay was feeling really weird and freaked out about the showing. Two realtors actually offered to go with Lindsay but she declined saying that Jason had promised he would be there at 5:30.
AT 4:30 PM Lindsay and Jason leave Sauce.
Lindsay returned to the Songhees condo to change before heading to DeSousa, and Jason headed off to a business appointment at SHC which was a 7-minute drive from Sauce. Just before 5:30 Lindsay calls Jason on his cell and they have a brief conversation. They Lindsay says, “I’ve got to go they are here.”
AT 5:30 PM JASON DRIVES OUT OF THE PARKING LOT AT SHC and his departure is picked up by the surveillance cameras owner by a business upstairs. Jason puts the DeSousa address into his GPS system but the address does not pick up. Just He then texts Lindsay requesting she send him the directions to the DeSousa property. By this time Lindsay is in the house with her clients, but she takes the time to text Jason the directions. It is unclear when or why Jason phoned his brother to ask for directions. It must have been prior to taking with Lindsay, because why would he need to call Ryan when Lindsay had already texted him the directions shortly after they spoke.
AT 5:45 PM JASON AND HIS FRIEND COHEN ARRIVE AT 1702 DESOUSA PLACE. Jason sees a man standing outside the front who then turns and goes back inside. Jason parks his car in the DeSousa cul-de-sac for ten minutes, then drives out onto Torquay and parks beside the house for another 10 minutes.
AT 6:05 PM Jason and Cohen exit the vehicle and go to the front door. They knock several times but get no answer. Jason panics and calls 911. He tells the operator that his girlfriend is in the house with clients and that he is worried because she is not answering the door. He ends the conversation with the 911 operator, then calls his mother, hoping that she will know the garage door code. His mother does not know but says she will try and reach the listing agents. Meanwhile Jason and Cohen run to the backyard and find the basement door locked.
Then they run back around to the front, where over the fence to the left side of the front door Cohen spots an open door. Jason lifts Cohen over the fence then runs back to the front door to wait for him to open the door. Cohen enters through the French doors, runs through the family room, into the hall, then to the front door. He opens the door and lets Jason in. Jason pushes right past Cohen and races straight upstairs to the master bedroom where he finds Lindsay lying in a pool of blood.
AT 6:11 PM JASON MAKES A 2ND 911 CALL AND ASKS THE POLICE TO HURRY.
AT 6:30 PM POLICE OFFICERS AND FIRST RESPONDERS ARRIVE AT THE DESOUSA PROPERTY.
Jason and Cohen are put in separate vehicles and taken to the police station for questioning.
AT APPX. 7:00 PM SHIRLEY ZAILO ARRIVES ON THE SCENE. At that time is told that her son has been taken to the police station. She immediately heads to the Saanich Police station to see her son. She immediately the high profile criminal lawyer Bradley Hickford to represent her son. Shortly after Shirley arrives at the police station Jason’s brother Ryan shows up accompanied by the girl he was spending time with that evening. Jason & Cohen are kept at the police station all night and released the next morning.
FEBRUARY 3/2010
The Reitmayer family, the Greater Victoria real estate Board, and the Canadian Real Estate Association put up a $100,000 reward for any information that could help bring arrests in Lindsay Buziak’s murder. This offer expired in six months.