December: Sears murder trial in Kelowna restarts 2 years after first trial stopped

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, December 31, 2025

WARNING: This story contains graphic details that some readers may find upsetting.

After multiple delays, the murder trial for a Kelowna woman restarted on Dec. 8.

Gabriella Sears, a transgender woman, is facing charges of second-degree murder and interference with human remains in the June 2021 death of Darren Middleton.

Middleton died of blunt force trauma to the head, suffered a severed penis, and was missing his testicles, found in the bathroom of the home that Sears rented in Rutland.

Following Sears’ arrest, she confessed to police that she had killed Middleton. After a voir dire, however, the judge ruled the confessions may not be used as evidence in the trial on the grounds that Sears’ rights were violated by police.

The initial trial was held in 2023, but came to a halt in December of that year after Sears’ unexpectedly fired her defence lawyers. Then, in June 2024, her new counsel filed an application to withdraw from the case, making them the third set of lawyers to represent Sears in the trial.

In response to the unusual decision, Justice Carol Ross ordered that Sears undergo a month-long psychiatric assessment. It was later determined that Sears was fit to stand trial.

The second trial got underway two years after the first trial was stopped.

Several RCMP officers have been questioned on the witness stand during the first two weeks of the second trial.

Justice Miriam Gropper was shown a video taken by RCMP Cpl. Jimmy Chow of the crime scene at 1210 Sycamore Rd. was taken the same day the body of Middleton was found, June 17, 2021.

The victim could be seen lying on the floor of the bathroom with a yellow box cutter sitting on Middleton’s abdomen and a baseball bat lying next to his head. A silver pocket knife was also seen on the bathroom floor with wet and bloody clothing.

Crime scene manager Staff Sgt.Timothy Russell testified before the court that this scene was one of the worst he’s ever encountered.

During Crown counsel David Grabavac’s examination of the officer on the witness stand, Russell told the court he had spoken with the property owner during the crime scene investigation and learned she was in the process of evicting Sears.

Defence counsel Vanessa de Jong cross-examined the officer, having Russell explain some of his observations of the inside of 1210 Sycamore Rd.

“The residence was a shelter, and it had power and water,” Russell told Judge Gropper.

Russell confirmed the house had no semblance of order, with random items and garbage strewn about, making it difficult to determine what items were of relevance to the investigation. The scene was described as “eerie,” and the officer noted several rats were seen inside the home and the dry carcas of a bird was found in a tote in the living room.

Several walls in the house had been painted on, including a painting depicting a rat and “numerous triangular shapes” on the living room ceiling.

Words were scrawled on the various walls around the house that Russell stated seemed “unusual” and “out of context.” The court also heard that mutliple windows in the house had been broken, the kitchen floor was covered in grime, and in the bathroom tub was an overflowing garbage bin.

On Dec. 15, Russell testified that when he arrived on scene he discovered Middleton’s body and witnessed that the victim’s face was completely disfigured.

“The face was distorted or obscured in such a manner that it appeared as though I was looking at the back of his head,” Russell told the court about seeing Middleton’s body. “But it was hard to process that information, because that couldn’t be the case unless his head had been completely turned around.”

Russell stated it was later found that cuttings of hair, which he believed to be from a synthetic wig, were covering the victim’s face.

He told the court that a tactical team conducted a search of the community days after the crime, between the crime scene on Sycamore Road and the location where Sears was arrested on Moyer Road, looking for human remains.

No remains were found.

But a palm print was found at the crime scene, in what Kelowna RCMP Cpl. and print expert Craig Van Every told the court was a reddish brown substance consistent with blood.

Van Every lifted the print from a desk inside the Sycamore Road home and explained to the court the holistic approach used to determine if the print found at the scene was in agreement with palm prints collected from Sears at the time of her arrest.

Once his analysis was complete, Van Every testified that it is standard practice to send the prints for verification. The officer told the court that both he and the verification came back with the same conclusion – the palm print found on the scene was in agreement with the print of Sears’ right palm.

Sears’ trial will reconvene sometime in the new year as it is scheduled to take a total of 44 days in court.