A mother and her toddler walk through a grocery store checkout line.

Security cameras capture their final moments together in public.

25-year-old Jasmine Love It pushes a shopping cart.

Her 22-month-old daughter Aaliyah sits inside, legs dangling.

It’s 3:06 in the afternoon on Monday, April 15th, 2019.

In 48 hours, they’ll both be dead.

Their bodies won’t be found for 3 weeks, and the man who killed them will lead police directly to their shallow graves, buried deep in the Canadian wilderness, soaked in gasoline.

This is their story.

Welcome to Cold Case Desk.

I’m your host, and today we’re examining a case that shook Calgary, Alberta to its core.

A case of domestic violence hidden behind a dating app romance.

A case where animal cruelty was the warning sign everyone missed.

a case solved by one of the most brilliant undercover operations in Canadian police history.

Before we begin, if you’re enjoying this content, please hit that subscribe button and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.

And if you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please reach out for help.

Resources are available.

Let’s dive in.

Jasmine Love was born in Calgary and lived her entire 25 years in the city she loved.

Standing 5’4 in tall with brown hair and brown eyes, she was described by everyone who knew her the same way.

Quiet, loving, caring, but above all else, she was a mother.

Her own mother, Kim Blankard, would later tell the court she was the best mom.

She really loved being a mom.

Jasmine’s sister, Genevie, remembered how devoted she was to family.

Regular phone calls, weekly family dinners, always present, always engaged.

But it was her relationship with her daughter that defined who Jasmine Love It truly was.

Aaliyah Sanderson had just turned 22 months old.

Her biological father was Robbie Sanderson, who had separated from Jasmine several months before the murders.

He was cooperative with police and never considered a suspect.

He’d stepped back from Jasmine’s life, but he’d never stopped caring about his daughter.

Aaliyah’s paternal grandmother, Jodie Sanderson, described Jasmine as a really attentive and caring mom who always put her daughter first in everything she did.

The toddler attended daycare.

She was meeting all her developmental milestones, walking early, trying to sing before she could even talk properly.

Her aunt Genevie described her as like a little angel with a really, really cute laugh.

Jasmine was a stay-at-home mother.

Every moment was dedicated to Aaliyah.

They were inseparable.

Where one went, the other followed, which made their disappearance so much more terrifying.

In September of 2018, Jasmine met someone on a dating app.

His name was Robert Andrew Leming, 34 years old, British national, permanent resident of Canada.

He worked as a heavyduty mechanic and owned a townhouse in the Cranston neighborhood of southeast Calgary.

Their courtship was fast, too fast.

According to Jasmine’s sister, within approximately one month of meeting online, Jasmine and Aaliyah moved into Leming’s townhouse.

The relationship was complicated from the start.

Though they were romantic partners, Jasmine paid rent.

She covered expenses.

She was in some ways more tenant than girlfriend.

Friends and family couldn’t quite figure out the exact nature of their arrangement.

Some thought they were just roommates.

Others were certain they were a couple.

The truth, as it turned out, was somewhere in between, and that ambiguity would become crucial to understanding what happened next.

By all accounts, the relationship was rocky.

Up and down, frequent arguments.

Jasmine had texted her sister at one point.

It’s not working out, and I’m not happy.

But she stayed.

And that decision would cost her everything.

What nobody knew.

What Jasmine herself may not have known was that Robert Leming had a history, a disturbing history that should have raised every red flag imaginable.

In August of 2018, just one month before he met Jasmine on that dating app, Robert Leming stood in an Alberta courtroom and pleaded guilty to three charges of animal cruelty.

The details were horrific.

Leming had owned a dog named Axel.

And when he decided he no longer wanted the animal, he didn’t surrender it to a shelter.

He didn’t rehome it.

He didn’t even have it humanely euthanized.

Instead, he drove to a wooded area near Pritis, Alberta.

He chained the dog to a tree and he left it there to die.

4 days later, a peace officer found Axel still chained to that tree, suffering, in distress, fighting for survival.

Leming pleaded guilty.

He received his sentence and one month later, he was swiping through a dating app looking for his next victim.

But the animal cruelty was just the tip of the iceberg.

Leming had been married before.

In 2017, he went through a divorce.

His ex-wife was granted full custody of their child, and in her court filings, she painted a terrifying picture of the man she’d once loved.

Emotional abuse, volatile temper, excessive drinking, cruelty.

She accused him of stalking her after their separation.

She expressed deep concern about his growing weapons collection.

And then she made a discovery that chilled her to the bone.

While going through Leming’s computer, she found his internet search history.

One article was about chaining a dog to a tree.

He would later do exactly that to Axel, but it was the other article that truly frightened her.

It was about a mother and child who died in a houseire.

She told the court she believed Robert Leming had been planning to murder her.

According to his own divorce affidavit, Leming’s weapons collection included two handguns, one shotgun, and approximately 60 knives that he’d been collecting since age seven, all stored in a gun safe in his garage.

This was the man Jasmine Love invited into her life, into her daughter’s life.

And there was one more secret Robert Leming was keeping.

Unknown to Jasmine, he’d been seeing another woman for 5 months before the murders.

While Jasmine believed they were working on their relationship while she hoped they might marry someday, Leming was maintaining a separate relationship with someone else entirely.

He would later claim that by January of 2019, he and Jasmine were no longer romantically involved, just friendly roommates sharing a space.

But those who knew Jasmine said she still loved him, still hoped for a future together.

That hope would be her undoing.

Easter was approaching in April of 2019.

Jasmine and her family were making plans to celebrate together as they always did.

On Sunday, April 14th, Jasmine, Aaliyah, and Robert Leming attended a family gathering.

It was the last time Kim Blankard would hear from her daughter.

The next day, Monday, April 15th, surveillance cameras at a Soies grocery store in Cranston captured Jasmine and Aaliyah at the selfch checkckout.

The time stamp read 3:06 p.m.

Jasmine appeared normal.

Aaliyah sat in the cart.

A routine shopping trip.

Nothing unusual.

It was the last time anyone outside that townhouse would see them alive.

On Tuesday, April 16th, Robert Leming picked up Aaliyah from daycare as usual.

Nothing seemed to miss to the daycare workers.

He appeared to be his normal self.

Investigators would later determine that Jasmine and Aaliyah were murdered sometime between April 16th and April 17th.

What happened inside that townhouse during those hours remains known only to Robert Leming, but the physical evidence would later tell a story of violence, terror, and unimaginable cruelty.

Friday, April 19th, Good Friday.

Jasmine’s family had planned an Easter dinner gathering.

Jasmine and Aaliyah were expected to attend.

They never showed up.

Jasmine’s sister tried calling.

No answer.

She sent text messages.

Nothing.

She reached out on Facebook.

Silence.

It wasn’t like Jasmine to go dark like this.

She always stayed in touch, always responded, always showed up for family events.

Concerned, Jasmine’s sister, drove to the Cranston townhouse and knocked on the door.

Nobody answered.

The next day was Easter Sunday.

Kim Blankard, Jasmine’s mother, had the same idea.

She drove to the townhouse and knocked repeatedly.

Still no answer.

She left a note on the door.

Call me.

That call never came.

For the next several days, the family’s concern grew into full-blown panic.

Jasmine’s phone went straight to voicemail.

Her bank account showed no activity after April 18th.

Her social media went silent.

Every digital footprint of her existence just stopped.

By Tuesday, April 23rd, the family knew something was terribly wrong.

At approximately 11 a.m., Kim Blankert walked into the Calgary Police Service headquarters and filed a missing person’s report for both Jasmine Love and 22-month-old Aaliyah Sanderson.

She told investigators this was completely out of character.

Jasmine would never disappear like this.

Never go days without contacting family, never miss Easter celebrations.

Something had happened to her daughter and granddaughter.

She was right.

In most missing person’s cases, the disappeared turn up within 24 hours.

People run away.

They need space.

They turn off their phones and take a break from reality.

99% of the time they come home.

But investigators immediately recognized this case was different.

A responsible mother doesn’t vanish with her toddler without telling anyone.

A woman who maintains regular contact with family doesn’t go silent for over a week.

And in today’s connected world, digital footprints don’t just stop unless something catastrophic has happened.

The Calgary Police Service Missing Persons Unit began their investigation that same day.

They started with the basics.

Interviewing family members, tracking down friends, identifying anyone who might know where Jasmine and Aaliyah could be.

And very quickly, one name kept coming up.

Robert Leming.

He was Jasmine’s boyfriend or roommate or ex-boyfriend, depending on who you asked.

The relationship status varied, but everyone agreed on one fact.

Jasmine and Aaliyah had been living in his townhouse.

If anyone knew where they were, it would be him.

On April 24th, 2019, police officers went to the Cranston townhouse to conduct a welfare check.

Robert Leming answered the door.

The interaction was captured on officer bodywn cameras, and from the very first moment, something felt off.

Leming appeared disheveled.

He admitted he’d been drinking heavily and smoking.

When officers asked about Jasmine and Aaliyah, his answers were vague, contradictory, and bizarre.

“She’s with her sister,” he told them initially.

The officers exchanged glances.

“Well, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” one responded.

“That’s the reason we’re here.

The family’s calling us saying we haven’t heard from our daughter and our sister.” Leming seemed confused or was pretending to be.

Yeah, it makes sense, he said.

I haven’t heard from her either.

The officers pushed harder.

This isn’t just like a roommate.

This is your girlfriend.

No.

Leming corrected.

It’s more roommate than girlfriend.

He claimed the last time he’d seen Jasmine was Thursday, April 18th.

He said their relationship status was in the air.

He said Jasmine had told him she was going to spend Easter with her family.

But when pressed on details, his story kept shifting.

First he knew where she was, then he didn’t.

First they were dating, then they weren’t.

First he’d heard from her recently, then he hadn’t.

The officers asked if they could look around the townhouse.

Leming consented.

What they found would raise immediate red flags.

The house was clean.

Too clean.

The kind of clean that suggests someone spent significant time and energy scrubbing every surface.

But there were oddities.

Strange things that didn’t quite fit.

Officers noticed the front door had been barricaded from the inside using two telescopic posts braced against the floor.

When asked about it, Leming had no good explanation.

And then there was the bacon.

Raw bacon.

Strips of it placed on chairs throughout the kitchen, just sitting there uncooked.

Not in packages, not in the refrigerator.

Just raw bacon deliberately positioned around the house.

When officers asked about it, Leming claimed he had no idea how it got there.

The officers found it strange, but didn’t yet understand its significance.

It would be weeks before they learned the truth.

Leming had strategically placed raw pork throughout his home in an attempt to confuse cadaavver dogs.

He knew police would come.

He knew they’d bring dogs, and he’d researched how to throw them off the scent.

For the moment, though, patrol officers treated Leming as what he claimed to be, a confused roommate who hadn’t seen his housemate in several days.

They asked him to come down to the station for a formal interview.

Leming agreed.

By this point, the missing person’s unit had already flagged this case for the homicide unit.

The circumstances were too suspicious.

The timeline was too concerning.

And Jasmine’s complete digital silence screamed foul play.

Detective Cole was assigned to interview Robert Leming.

While Leming sat in the interview room, investigators worked behind the scenes to verify his story.

Every claim he made, they checked.

Every timeline he provided, they cross-referenced.

And they started finding problems.

big problems.

Leming claimed he’d been home all day on certain dates, but cell phone tower data showed Jasmine’s phone had pinged in Brag Creek, a rural area west of Calgary.

When confronted with this evidence, Leming suddenly remembered they’d gone on a picnic that day.

Investigators immediately dispatched teams to Brag Creek to search for CCTV footage to look for any sign of Leming’s vehicle to find any evidence of this alleged picnic.

They found nothing.

No video, no witnesses, no evidence a picnic had ever taken place.

Leming’s story was falling apart.

But without bodies, without a crime scene, without definitive proof of foul play, they couldn’t charge him.

Then they pulled his driving records.

On April 18th, 2019, Robert Leming had received a speeding ticket.

He was clocked doing 132 kmh in a 110 zone on Highway 40 just west of Calgary.

The location was significant.

Highway 40 runs through Canonascis country, a vast wilderness area in the Canadian Rockies.

When detectives asked Leming about this trip, he didn’t mention it, not once.

Despite being asked repeatedly about his movements during that week, despite being given multiple opportunities to explain where he’d been, he never brought up the speeding ticket.

That omission was glaring.

If you’re trying to establish your whereabouts and you have documented proof of where you were, you mention it.

You volunteer that information unless you have a reason to hide where you were going.

Unless you were disposing of bodies.

Based on the inconsistencies, the strange behavior, and the suspicious circumstances, investigators obtained a search warrant for Leming’s townhouse.

Forensic crime scene specialists descended on the Cranston residence.

They brought luminol, UV lights, and cadaavver dogs, and they brought an accelerant detection dog from the Calgary Fire Department.

The cadaavver dogs alerted.

They sensed death, but Leming had been clever with his bacon tactic.

The raw pork created confusion, cross-contamination.

The alerts weren’t clean enough to pinpoint exactly where death had occurred.

The accelerant dog, however, hit on multiple locations.

The fire pit in the backyard, the garage, and disturbingly the interior of Leming’s 2014 Mercedes SUV.

Using infrared and UV light sources, investigators found what appeared to be blood smear marks on floors and walls.

But the patterns were ghostly, faded.

Someone had cleaned extensively, likely using industrial-grade chemicals.

The problem with a week-long head start is that a motivated person can destroy a tremendous amount of evidence.

Leming had been unemployed.

He’d had time, he’d had opportunity, and he’d used both to sanitize his home.

Investigators swabbed everything.

They collected samples from every surface.

They tore apart the garage looking for additional evidence.

And then they made a crucial discovery.

CCTV footage from the townhouse complex showed Robert Leeing making multiple trips to the communal garbage bins during the week after Jasmine and Aaliyah disappeared.

Police seized those dumpsters and transported them to a secure facility for processing.

What they found inside was damning Jasmine’s purse.

Inside were prescription medications in her name.

her identification, personal items she would never have left behind voluntarily, and then the most chilling discovery, Jasmine’s passport, but it wasn’t intact.

Someone had run it through a paper shredder.

The distinctive navy blue and gold Canadian crest was still partially visible, torn, but recognizable.

Investigators painstakingly pieced together enough fragments to see Jasmine’s photo and name.

Who shreds a passport? who destroys identification documents of someone who’s supposedly just visiting family.

Only someone who knows that person will never need those documents again.

The garbage bins yielded more evidence.

Firearm parts, a Ruger 22 caliber laser site, the butt of a rifle melted and burned, the fore end of a gun also showing burn damage.

All broken into pieces, all deliberately destroyed.

There were infant toys, baby food, children’s books partially burned, and there was mulch.

Bags and bags of mulch mixed with shredded paper.

Investigators found the same type of mulch spread across the front yard of Leming’s townhouse.

When they examined it closely, they discovered it contained shredded documents mixed in with the wood chips.

It appeared Leming had been using the mulch to mask the smell of decomposition during transport.

On April 25th, 2019, at 11:00 a.m., the Calgary Police Service made a public announcement.

The missing person’s case was now officially a suspected double homicide.

Jasmine Love it and Aaliyah Sanderson were presumed dead.

A SWAT team was deployed to arrest Robert Leming.

Despite the evidence mounting against him, he was calm, cooperative, and showed no emotion.

He was transported to police headquarters and questioned for 24 hours straight.

Detective Cole tried every technique in the book.

He laid out the evidence.

He showed Leming the passport fragments, the burned gun parts, the cell phone data contradictions.

He appealed to Leming’s humanity.

“We have a mom and a little girl out there,” he said.

“Their family deserves to bring them home.

If you know where they are, now’s the time to tell us.” Leming said nothing.

Detective Cole pressed harder.

“It’s looking like you’re responsible for this.

But even if that’s true, doing the right thing now matters.

Help us find them.” Leming remained silent.

24 hours passed.

Under Canadian law, police must charge a suspect or release them.

They didn’t have enough.

The evidence was circumstantial.

Strong circumstantial evidence, yes, but without bodies, without a definitive crime scene, without a murder weapon.

Prosecutors couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jasmine and Aaliyah were even dead, let alone that Robert Leming had killed them.

On April 26th at 11:00 a.m., Robert Leming walked out of police headquarters, a free man, and that’s when things got even stranger.

April 26th, 2019.

Robert Leming had just been released from police custody.

Most people in his situation would lay low, contact a lawyer, and stay out of the public eye.

Robert Leming did the exact opposite.

He went to a pub, and when a news crew tracked him down outside that pub, he agreed to an on camera interview.

What happened next was jaw-dropping.

Reporter Nancy Hickst from Global News approached Leming as he stood outside the pub, clearly intoxicated.

Her camera rolled.

“How do you feel about this whole thing?” she asked.

Leming’s response.

“It’s terrible, of course.

But to know the police are calling this a homicide,” Hicks pressed.

“To know that someone has killed a 22-month-old child? It’s crazy,” Leming said, shaking his head.

“But you’re saying that is not you?” “Of course not.

Of course not.

The exchange continued.

Leming claimed he was just a landlord, just a roommate.

He said he didn’t keep track of Jasmine’s comingings and goings.

You’re in a relationship as well, though.

Hickst pointed out.

Well, we weren’t at this time, Lee countered.

Okay.

So, when was the last time you saw them? Would have been Thursday around about 7 on the 18th.

Hickst gave him an opportunity to explain himself.

This is your chance to tell us what happened.

Leming’s response revealed more than he likely intended.

Who says that they’re dead? That’s crazy.

I don’t know where they are, and that’s the biggest thing.

If they were dead, then the CPS would know, right? But they’re not.

They don’t know.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s anything to do with me.

Then he added something chilling.

I guess I’ll just wait in the pub until I hear something.

Detectives watching this interview were stunned.

They counted 21 lies in that brief conversation alone, but what struck them most was Leming’s demeanor.

He seemed confident, arrogant, even.

He genuinely believed he’d gotten away with it.

Detective Cole later said, “Watching that interaction, the first instinct that came to my mind was, he thinks he’s beaten us.

He thinks he’s smarter than we are.” There was just an arrogance and bravado around him that made me think because we released him, he thought he’d gotten away with murdering these two people.

That arrogance would be his downfall.

While Robert Leeing was giving interviews and drinking at pubs, investigators were digging into his past.

What they uncovered painted a disturbing picture.

Court documents from his 2017 divorce revealed his ex-wife’s allegations.

Emotional abuse, volatile temper, excessive drinking, stalking behavior after their separation.

The judge had granted her full custody of their child, which in family court proceedings is often a significant red flag, indicating concerns about a parents fitness.

But it was the weapons collection that caught investigators attention.

According to Leming’s own sworn affidavit during the divorce, he owned two handguns, one shotgun, and approximately 60 knives.

He’d been collecting knives since he was 7 years old.

All of these weapons had been stored in a gun safe in his garage.

When forensic teams searched that garage, the gun safe was there, but several weapons were missing.

Police obtained Leming’s firearms license records.

They cross-referenced the registered weapons against what was found in the safe.

One rifle was unaccounted for, a Ruger 22 caliber rifle, the same caliber as the burned, destroyed gun parts found in Leming’s garbage.

Investigators also learned about the animal cruelty case.

In August of 2018, just one month before meeting Jasmine, Leming had pleaded guilty to chaining his dog Axel to a tree in a wooded area near Pritis, Alberta, and leaving the animal to die.

The psychology was clear.

This was a man capable of premeditated cruelty.

A man who could look at a living being dependent on him for care and consciously decide to let it suffer and die.

If he could do that to a dog, what could he do to a woman and child? Robert Leming was free, but he wasn’t free.

Calgary police covert surveillance teams were following his every move.

They watched him return to his townhouse.

They watched him leave and come back.

They documented everyone he spoke with everywhere he went.

Leming appeared to be acting normally.

He ran errands.

He went to stores.

He seemed completely unconcerned that he was the prime suspect in a double homicide investigation.

Meanwhile, search teams were scouring Bragg Creek and the surrounding wilderness areas looking for any sign of Jasmine and Aaliyah.

Massive police presence descended on the area.

Officers on foot, officers on horseback, search and rescue volunteers, cadaavver dogs.

They found nothing.

The problem was simple.

The Canadian Rocky’s wilderness is vast.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of dense forest, mountains, rivers, and remote areas where a body could remain hidden for decades.

Without leaming leading them directly to the location, finding Jasmine and Aaliyah was going to be nearly impossible.

And that’s when investigators came up with a plan.

An audacious, risky, unprecedented plan.

They were going to make Robert Leeing think he’d found allies, friends who could help him, people who could make his problems disappear.

They were going to run an undercover operation unlike anything Calgary had ever seen.

In Canadian law enforcement, there’s a type of undercover operation known as a Mr.

Big Sting.

The technique involves undercover officers posing as members of a criminal organization, befriending a suspect, gaining their trust, and eventually getting them to confess to crimes.

It’s controversial.

It’s been challenged in court, but when done properly, it’s legal and effective.

On May 5th, 2019, exactly nine days after Robert Leeing was released from custody, Calgary police launched Operation Highwood, two undercover officers, highly trained specialists, approached Leming outside a Soie’s liquor store near his home in Cranston.

Their cover story was simple.

They were criminals.

They’d been watching the news.

They knew Leming was in trouble, and they had information that could help him.

One of the officers explained that a nosy neighbor had been going through trash and found a bag containing evidence.

They’d retrieved it and for the right price, they could make it disappear.

Leming was immediately interested.

The officers established credibility quickly.

They showed him non-functioning weapons.

They shared anti- police stories.

They presented themselves as experienced criminals who knew how to avoid detection.

And crucially, they offered him something he desperately needed, a way to dispose of evidence.

The conversation lasted for hours.

Leming became very engaged according to police reports.

He opened up.

He started sharing details and that’s when he made his first critical mistake.

During the conversation, one of the undercover officers mentioned the police search of Leming’s townhouse.

They brought dogs, right? The officer asked.

Leming smiled.

Yeah, they did.

But I was ready for them.

What do you mean? I put bacon all over my house, Leming explained.

Raw bacon on chairs, on counters, everywhere.

Pork is the closest thing to people in the way that dogs react to them.

I figured it would confuse their cadaver dogs.

The officers pretended to be impressed.

That’s smart.

Did it work? Must have.

Leming said, “They didn’t find anything, but that wasn’t true.

The dogs had alerted.

They’d sensed death.

The bacon had created confusion, yes, but it hadn’t completely thrown them off.

What Leming didn’t realize was that by admitting to the bacon tactic, he was admitting consciousness of guilt.

An innocent person doesn’t set up countermeasures to confuse police dogs.

An innocent person doesn’t anticipate a cadaavver dog search.

Only someone who knows there are bodies to be found, thinks that far ahead,” the conversation continued.

The undercover officers were carefully building trust, letting Leming talk, not pushing too hard.

At one point, they mentioned they were worried about GPS tracking on vehicles.

Leming laughed.

That’s why I’m glad I drive an older car.

My Mercedes is a 2014.

If it was an 18, then I’d be in jail.

The newer ones have GPS that police can access.

Mine doesn’t.

Again, this was a statement that revealed his mindset.

He was thinking about how to avoid digital tracking.

He’d considered the GPS issue and deliberately relied on his older vehicle because he knew it couldn’t be traced.

Why would an innocent man think about that? Why would someone who didn’t know where Jasmine and Aaliyah were worry about GPS tracking during the exact time frame they disappeared? The officers nodded along, playing their roles perfectly.

Several hours into the conversation, one of the undercover officers decided it was time to push a little harder.

“Look, man,” he said.

“We want to help you, but we need to know what we’re dealing with here.

Where are they? Leming hesitated.

For the first time that evening, he seemed uncertain.

They’re looking very, very far away from where they should be, he finally said.

The officer pressed.

Okay, but that doesn’t help us.

We need specifics.

We can’t help you unless we know exactly what we’re dealing with.

Leming looked at both officers carefully.

He was evaluating them, deciding whether to trust them.

And then he made the decision that would seal his fate.

I can show you,” he said.

It was now approximately midnight on May 5th, transitioning into the early morning hours of May 6th.

Robert Leming got into a vehicle with two undercover police officers he’d known for less than 5 hours, and he volunteered to take them to the location where he’d hidden the bodies of Jasmine Love and Aaliyah Sanderson.

The drive took them west out of Calgary on the TransCanada Highway, then south on Highway 40 into Canonascis country.

This was the same route Leming had taken on April 18th when he’d received that speeding ticket.

The same route he deliberately failed to mention during his police interviews.

As they drove, Leming provided directions.

You head towards Nikisa, the ski hill, and carry on for about 20 more kilome.

You’ll see a gas station on the left.

Keep going on Highway 40.

As the road turns up the hill, there’s a little maintenance road.

You kind of have to look backwards to see it.

You need a truck to get up there.

The officers followed his directions exactly.

Fresh snow had fallen in the mountains.

The temperature was below freezing.

Visibility was poor.

But Robert Leming knew exactly where he was going.

At approximately 4:00 a.m.

on May 6th, 2019, the vehicle pulled off Highway 40 onto an unmarked maintenance road near Grizzly Creek, a day use area in Cananas country.

Leming directed them up the rough road.

Just around this tree, he said, “Off to our left.” The vehicle stopped.

The officers got out.

It was dark, cold.

Snow covered the ground.

One of the officers asked, “Where exactly?” Robert Leeing pointed to a spot just off the road.

“You’re looking at it,” he said.

Within minutes, backup units arrived.

“Fensic teams, major crimes investigators, park wardens.

The site was secured and illuminated.

And there, in shallow graves beneath mulch, twigs, and dirt, investigators found them.

Jasmine Love It and Aaliyah Sanderson wrapped in blankets, blue plastic bags over their heads, the overwhelming smell of gasoline rising from the graves.

After 3 weeks of searching, after hundreds of man-hour, after scouring thousands of acres of wilderness, Robert Leeing had led police directly to the bodies.

The only person who could have known that location was the person who put them there.

The location was remote, heavily forested, accessible only by rough maintenance roads that required four-wheel drive vehicles to navigate.

It was not a place someone would stumble upon by accident.

It was not a popular hiking area or camping spot.

It was isolated, hidden, chosen specifically because it was unlikely to be discovered.

Forensic crime scene specialists worked through the early morning hours, carefully documenting everything.

The graves were shallow, only about 2 ft deep.

The bodies had been placed side by side.

Jasmine was on her back.

Aaliyah was positioned next to her mother.

Both were fully clothed.

Jasmine was wearing the same outfit she’d been seen in on the Soie surveillance footage from April 15th.

Aaliyah was wearing pink pajama bottoms, a diaper, and a pink t-shirt that read, “Ihe heart hugs.” The blankets they were wrapped in matched blankets from Leming’s townhouse.

The blue plastic bags were standard garbage bags, the same type found in Leming’s garage, and the smell, the overwhelming, unmistakable smell of gasoline.

The accelerant detection dog immediately alerted on both bodies.

They had been soaked in fuel, likely to destroy DNA evidence and accelerate decomposition.

But Leming had made a critical error.

Gasoline preserves some biological material, even as it destroys other evidence.

The bodies were in better condition than they would have been otherwise.

Investigators photographed the scene extensively.

They documented the positioning of the bodies.

They collected soil samples.

They bagged the blankets as evidence, and they noted one particularly heartbreaking detail.

Aaliyah’s diaper was completely saturated with gasoline.

The prosecutor would later point out the significance of this.

Only a mechanic would know that gasoline is corrosive and could destroy DNA evidence.

He said Robert Leming was a mechanic.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

The burial site was just one of three separate crime scenes in the area about 100 meters from the graves.

Investigators found a burn pit.

It had been used recently.

The ashes were still identifiable.

Inside the pit, they found the charred remains of a child car seat.

The metal frame was bent and blackened.

The fabric had melted.

There were pieces of a stroller.

The wheels were recognizable, but deformed by heat.

There were children’s books, partially burned.

One was the jungle book.

Investigators could still make out illustrations on the pages that hadn’t been completely consumed by fire.

There were small shoes, child-sized, pink, melted into misshapen lumps.

Everything Leming couldn’t bury, he tried to burn.

The second crime scene was a culvert about 50 m away.

Inside, investigators found more items Leming had tried to hide.

Additional clothing, more children’s items, a backpack, and crucially, more gun parts.

Pieces of the Ruger 22 rifle that match the parts found in his garbage back at the townhouse.

All of it hidden.

All of it evidence of his attempts to destroy any connection between himself and his victims.

As forensic teams worked to process the crime scenes, Parks Canada wardens approached the lead investigator with a concern.

A female grizzly bear with two cubs had been spotted within 30 meters of the burial site.

Grizzly bears have an incredibly powerful sense of smell.

They can detect kerrion from miles away, and a mother grizzly protecting cubs is one of the most dangerous animals in North America.

The bear had almost certainly been attracted to the site by the smell of decomposition.

Park wardens provided what they called lethal overwatch, meaning armed wardens stood guard with high-powered rifles while forensic specialists worked, ready to shoot if the bear approached and became aggressive.

It was a tense, dangerous operation, made even more difficult by the remote location and the emotional weight of what they were recovering.

One investigator later said, “It’s such an isolated location, heavily forested with indentations in the ground that were almost perfect for preservation of the bodies.

But working in those conditions, knowing a grizzly was nearby, knowing we were recovering a mother and her baby, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.” At approximately 6:00 a.m.

On May 6th, while forensic teams continued processing the Canananas crime scenes, Robert Leeing was arrested for the second time.

This time there would be no release.

He was transported back to Calgary and placed in a holding cell at police headquarters.

On May 7th, 2019, he was formally charged with two counts of secondderee murder.

Murder of Jasmine Love It, murder of Aaliyah Sanderson.

The charges carried automatic life sentences if convicted.

The only question was how long before he’d be eligible for parole.

Leming was denied bail and remanded to custody to await trial.

News of the arrests and the discovery of the bodies spread quickly through Calgary and across Canada.

Vigils were held.

The community was in shock.

On Mother’s Day, May 12th, 2019, approximately 70 people gathered at Cranston Family Park for a candlelight vigil.

Purple ribbons for domestic violence awareness, white ribbons for women against violence, and pink ribbons for Aaliyah.

People who’d never met Jasmine or Aaliyah came to pay their respects.

Strangers wept.

Mothers held their children a little tighter.

Kim Blankard, Jasmine’s mother, spoke briefly.

She was the best mom, she said through tears.

All she wanted was to be a mother, and Aaliyah was her whole world.

Jodie Sanderson, Aaliyah’s paternal grandmother, added, “She was such a happy baby.

She walked early.

She tried to sing before she could talk.

She brought so much joy.” The vigil organizers released balloons.

Purple, white, and pink balloons floated into the evening sky over Calgary.

But even in grief, the community found a way to help.

A GoFundMe campaign was established to help the family with funeral expenses.

The goal was $5,000.

Within 48 hours, it had raised over $30,000.

Local businesses contributed.

So Cranston, the store where Jasmine and Aaliyah had last been seen on surveillance cameras, created special cupcakes in purple, white, and pink.

All proceeds went to the family.

That initiative alone raised an additional $25,000.

The outpouring of support was overwhelming, but it also revealed something darker.

People were trying to take advantage of the tragedy.

Within days of the vigil, Kim Blankard learned that unauthorized GoFundMe pages had been created in Jasmine and Aaliyah’s names.

Scammers were using the victim’s photos and stories to solicit donations that would never reach the family.

Kim had to go public, warning people that only one official fundraiser was authorized.

She had to report the fake pages to GoFundMe for removal.

“This nightmare just keeps getting worse,” she told reporters.

“First, we lose Jasmine and Aaliyah.

Then, we have to prepare for funerals, and now we have people trying to profit off their deaths.

It’s disgusting.” GoFundMe eventually removed the fraudulent pages.

But the damage was done.

It was just another layer of pain on top of unimaginable grief.

The legitimate fundraiser had raised far more than needed for funeral expenses.

After all, costs were covered.

Kim Blankard was left with approximately $25,000 in excess donations.

She could have kept it.

Nobody would have blamed her.

But that’s not what she did.

Instead, she donated the entire amount to the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter.

Specifically, she funded the creation of three pet friendly rooms at the shelter, each one with a plaque honoring Jasmine and Aaliyah.

Why pet friendly rooms? Kim explained victims will delay leaving or consider returning to their partner because they fear for the safety of their pets.

Women stay in abusive relationships because they know if they leave, their pets might be harmed.

These rooms mean women can escape with their animals and know they’ll all be safe.

It was a fitting tribute.

Jasmine had died in a domestic violence situation and Robert Leming had a documented history of animal cruelty.

The rooms would ensure that other women, other potential victims, would have one less reason to stay with their abusers.

Robert Leeing sat in jail awaiting trial.

Under Canadian law, every person accused of a crime has the right to a fair and timely trial.

But timely is relative.

Co 19 hit in 2020.

Courts shut down.

Trials were delayed.

The justice system ground to a halt.

Leming’s trial, originally scheduled for 2020, was postponed, then postponed again and again.

Jasmine’s family waited.

Aaliyah’s family waited.

They wanted justice.

They wanted answers.

They wanted to understand why this had happened, but most of all, they wanted closure.

It would take 2 and 1/2 years before they got it.

October 12th, 2021.

Two and a half years after Jasmine and Aaliyah were murdered, the trial of Robert Andrew Leming finally began at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary.

The case was assigned to Justice Keith Yamuchi, who would hear it without a jury.

In Canada, both the prosecution and defense can opt for a judge trial in certain circumstances.

In this case, both sides agreed.

Prosecutor Doug Taylor represented the crown.

Defense attorney Balffor Durr, a high-profile criminal lawyer in Calgary, represented Leming.

The courtroom was packed.

Jasmine’s family sat in the front rows.

Reporters filled the gallery.

Members of the public lined up outside hoping for seats.

Everyone expected this trial to last weeks.

Multiple witnesses would testify.

Forensic evidence would be presented.

The undercover operation would be explained in detail.

But then something unexpected happened.

On day one, before any evidence was even presented, Robert Leeing stood up and changed his plea.

“How do you plead to the charge of seconddegree murder in the death of Jasmine Love It?” Justice Yamuchi asked.

“Guilty,” Leming said.

The courtroom erupted.

Gasps, tears, whispers.

Jasmine’s mother buried her face in her hands.

But then came the second question.

“How do you plead to the charge of seconddegree murder in the death of Aaliyah Sanderson?” “Not guilty,” Leming said.

The confusion was immediate.

How could someone admit to murdering the mother but claim innocence in the death of the child found buried beside her? Balffor Leming’s attorney stood to explain.

His client was prepared to admit what happened to Jasmine.

He would take responsibility for that.

But Aaliyah’s death, Dare argued, was different.

It was accidental, unintentional, not murder.

The trial would proceed, but only on the question of Aaliyah’s death.

Robert Leming took the stand in his own defense.

Over two days of testimony, he offered his version of what happened inside that Cranston townhouse.

He claimed that by January 2019, his romantic relationship with Jasmine was over.

They were friendly roommates, nothing more.

But Jasmine wanted more.

She wanted marriage.

She wanted commitment.

She wanted a future together.

And according to Leming, her expectations were causing tension.

He testified that on April 16th, 2019, he was home with Jasmine and Aaliyah.

Everything seemed normal, routine.

Then he heard a sound.

A thump.

He described it like something falling.

He went to investigate and found Aaliyah at the bottom of the stairs.

The townhouse had a short staircase, maybe five or six steps.

Aaliyah had apparently climbed up and fallen back down.

Leming said he dusted her off.

She seemed okay, a little shaken maybe, but not seriously hurt.

He put her to bed for her afternoon nap.

45 minutes later, he went to check on her.

She was limp and unresponsive.

He picked her up.

She wasn’t breathing.

He started to panic.

That’s when Jasmine came home.

According to Leeming’s testimony, when Jasmine saw Aaliyah unresponsive in his arms, she immediately accused him.

“What did you do?” she allegedly screamed.

“Did you hurt her?” Leming claimed he tried to explain about the fall, but Jasmine wouldn’t listen.

She kept accusing him, yelling at him, getting more and more agitated.

And then he said, “Something inside him snapped.” “I freaked out,” he testified.

“I just snapped.

There was a hammer on the kitchen counter.” He grabbed it.

He swung it at Jasmine’s head.

Once, twice, at least two times, he admitted.

Jasmine fell to the floor.

She was bleeding.

She was in distress, but she wasn’t dead.

She was suffering.

So Leming went to the garage.

He retrieved his Ruger 22 caliber rifle from the gun safe.

He came back inside and he shot Jasmine behind her left ear.

“I wanted to make it quick,” he said.

“I didn’t want her to suffer.” The courtroom sat in stunned silence.

Even in his own defense, even in the version of events most favorable to himself, Robert Leming had admitted to brutally murdering Jasmine Love It.

Balfur’s strategy was clear.

Get the Jasmine murder out of the way immediately with a guilty plea.

then focus all the defense energy on Aaliyah.

Because without proving that Leming intentionally killed Aaliyah, the prosecution couldn’t get convictions on both murders.

Dar argued that the medical evidence couldn’t definitively rule out an accidental fall.

He emphasized that Leming had described Aaliyah as seeming all right after the fall.

Why would my client wait 45 minutes to check on her if he’d intentionally harmed her? Dur asked.

If he wanted her dead, why not finish it immediately? Why let her suffer for hours? It was a calculated argument, but it had a fatal flaw, the medical evidence.

Dr.

Elizabeth Brooks Lim, a forensic pathologist with the office of the chief medical examiner, performed the autopsies on both Jasmine and Aaliyah.

What she found was devastating.

Let’s start with Jasmine.

Jasmine Love’s body showed evidence of severe trauma.

She had three separate skull fractures.

Dr.

Brooks Limb testified that these fractures required a significant amount of force to create.

The fractures were located on the left side of her head, consistent with being struck multiple times with a blunt object like a hammer.

But the skull fractures weren’t what killed her.

There was also a gunshot wound behind her left ear.

Dr.

Brooks limb recovered two bullet fragments from Jasmine’s brain.

The trajectory analysis showed the bullet entered just behind the ear and traveled through the brain stem.

This would have caused instantaneous death.

Dr.

Brooks Lim testified.

The moment this bullet entered the brain stem, all voluntary and involuntary functions would have ceased immediately.

Blood pattern analysis on Jasmine’s face and clothing indicated she’d been struck with the blunt object first, causing the bleeding and swelling.

Then, while she was on the ground, while she was injured, but still alive, Leming shot her.

The prosecution emphasized this timeline.

Leming had time to think, time to make a choice.

He’d assaulted Jasmine, seen her suffering, walked away to get a gun, came back and executed her.

This wasn’t a crime of passion.

This was calculated.

And then came Aaliyah’s autopsy.

This is where things became truly heartbreaking.

22-month-old Aaliyah Sanderson had three distinct skull fractures.

Dr.

Brook’s limb was very clear on this point.

Three distinct fractures in different locations on the skull.

One fracture alone might be consistent with a fall, maybe, but three separate fractures.

Falls typically create a single point of impact.

Dr.

Brooks Lim explained, “When a child falls downstairs, even multiple stairs, the head usually impacts once.

You don’t see three distinct fracture patterns from a single fall event.

The fractures were located on different parts of Aaliyah’s skull.

The force required to create them was substantial.

There were also abrasions on her face and neck, bruising consistent with being grabbed or held.

But the most devastating finding was the timeline of her death.

Dr.

Brooks Lim testified that based on the nature and extent of Aaliyah’s injuries, she would have been conscious and breathing for 3 to 6 hours after receiving the head trauma.

3 to 6 hours, not instantly dead, not unconscious from the moment of injury.

Conscious, aware, suffering.

Dr.

Brooks Limb described what those hours would have looked like.

She would have progressively lost consciousness.

She would have had seizures.

Her breathing would have become labored and irregular.

She would have been gasping for air.

And then eventually her brain would have swelled to the point where all functions ceased.

Aaliyah didn’t die quickly.

She didn’t die peacefully.

She died slowly in pain over the course of hours.

And Robert Leming did nothing to help her.

But Dr.

Brooks Lim had more to reveal.

And this is where the case took an even darker turn.

During the autopsy, she discovered injuries to Aaliyah’s genital area.

The injuries were recent, inflicted within 12 hours of death.

The injuries were consistent with sexual assault.

The prosecutor, Doug Taylor, addressed this directly in his closing arguments.

“Why would Robert Leming kill Jasmine Love it?” “What was his motive?” Taylor asked the court.

“I suggest to you that Jasmine discovered Robert Leming was sexually abusing her daughter.

She confronted him and he killed her to silence her.” Aaliyah was killed as a form of collateral damage.

She was a witness.

She was evidence.

The only way to cover up the murder of Jasmine was to also murder Aaliyah.

The defense objected strenuously to this theory.

Balffor argued there was no direct evidence of sexual abuse, only injuries that could have multiple explanations, but the implication hung in the air.

It explained the motive.

It explained why both victims had to die.

It explained the unspeakable evil of what Robert Leming had done.

Forensic testing revealed that both bodies had been soaked in gasoline.

The smell was so strong that investigators working the scene had to take frequent breaks, even weeks after death.

Even after being buried in soil, the gasoline odor was overwhelming.

Dr.

Brooks Lim testified that Aaliyah’s diaper was completely saturated.

The diaper had absorbed a significant amount of accelerant.

She said, “Why gasoline?” The prosecution explained, “Robert Leming was a mechanic.

He worked with gasoline daily.

He understood its properties.

He knew that gasoline is corrosive.

He knew it breaks down organic material.

He knew it could destroy DNA evidence.” He’d poured gasoline over both bodies in an attempt to eliminate forensic evidence that might link him to the crimes.

But gasoline has a double-edged.

While it destroys some evidence, it also preserves other biological material.

In this case, it had actually helped preserve the bodies enough for Dr.

Brooks Lim to conduct thorough autopsies.

Leming’s plan to destroy evidence had partially backfired.

A significant portion of the trial focused on Operation Highwood, the undercover operation that led to the discovery of the bodies.

The two undercover officers testified about their interactions with Leming.

They described how he’d opened up to them, shared details about his evidence disposal techniques, and ultimately led them directly to the burial site.

Defense attorney Balffor challenged the operation’s legality.

He argued it was entrament, that the officers had manipulated Leming into revealing information he otherwise wouldn’t have shared.

But Justice Yamuchi wasn’t convinced.

The officers had followed proper protocols.

They hadn’t threatened Leming.

They hadn’t coerced him.

They presented themselves as criminals willing to help.

And Leming had voluntarily chosen to trust them and reveal the location.

Nobody forced Robert Leeing to get in that vehicle.

Justice Yamuchi noted.

Nobody forced him to drive to Canonascis.

Nobody forced him to point to that specific location and say, “You’re looking at it.” Those were his choices.

The judge allowed all the undercover operation evidence to be admitted.

One of the most bizarre pieces of evidence was Leming’s bacon strategy.

Remember, officers had found raw bacon placed throughout his townhouse during their initial search.

During the undercover operation, Leming had explained his reasoning to the officers.

Pork is the closest thing to people in the way that dogs react to them.

I figured it would confuse their cadaavver dogs.

The prosecution used this as evidence of consciousness of guilt.

An innocent person doesn’t set up countermeasures for cadaavver dogs.

Doug Taylor argued, “An innocent person doesn’t research how to confuse police search techniques.

Only someone who knows there are bodies to be found thinks that far ahead.” The defense tried to downplay it, suggesting Leeing was just paranoid after being released from police custody, trying to protect himself from further searches.

But the timeline didn’t support that.

The bacon had been placed before the first search, not after.

Leming had anticipated the police would bring dogs.

He’d prepared for it in advance.

That level of premeditation was damning.

Throughout his testimony, Robert Leming told lie after lie.

Justice Yamuchi in his written decision noted that he’d counted the falsehoods.

He found 21 distinct lies in Lemings interview with CBC News alone.

Lies about his relationship with Jasmine.

Lies about when he’d last seen her and Aaliyah.

Lies about his movements during the critical time period.

Lies about the speeding ticket.

Lies about the trip to Brag Creek.

The judge wrote, “Lies are manifest throughout his testimony.

When confronted with evidence that contradicted his statements, he would suddenly remember a new version of events.

This pattern of deception undermines any credibility he might have had.

The prosecution hammered this point home.

If Robert Leeing is willing to lie about small things, easily disprovable things.

How can we trust anything he says about what happened to Aaliyah? The prosecution laid out the extensive cover up efforts Leming had undertaken.

Shredding Jasmine’s passport, destroying gun parts, burning evidence in canonasis, cleaning the townhouse extensively, placing bacon to confuse dogs, barricading the door, deleting texts and photos, lying to police repeatedly.

Each action demonstrated consciousness of guilt.

Each action showed premeditation and planning.

This wasn’t a panicked response to an accident, Doug Taylor argued.

This was a calculated, methodical effort to destroy evidence, hide bodies, and escape responsibility.

Robert Leming had days to think about what he’d done.

Days to make different choices.

He could have called 911.

He could have confessed.

He could have at least given Jasmine and Aaliyah dignified burials.

Instead, he soaked them in gasoline, buried them in the woods, burned their belongings, and went on television to proclaim his innocence.

Balffor Dare in his closing arguments focused on the question of intent regarding Aaliyah.

My client has admitted to killing Jasmine Love it.

Dur stated he’s plead guilty to that murder.

He will spend life in prison for that crime.

There’s no dispute, but Aaliyah’s death is different.

The medical evidence cannot definitively rule out an accidental fall.

My client described her as seeming all right after the incident.

He put her to bed.

He checked on her later and found her unresponsive.

Yes.

He then made terrible criminal decisions about how to handle the situation.

Yes, he covered it up.

Yes, he buried both bodies.

But covering up an accidental death is not the same as murder.

Dare asked the judge to consider a lesser charge for Aaliyah.

Perhaps manslaughter.

Perhaps criminal negligence causing death, but not murder.

Doug Taylor’s closing argument was powerful and emotional.

Ladies and gentlemen, he began, then caught himself.

Your honor, I apologize.

We don’t have a jury, but this case is so egregious, I almost forgot.

He composed himself and continued.

Robert Leming wants us to believe that Aaliyah’s death was an accident.

A tragic fall down the stairs.

And then when her mother confronted him, he panicked and killed Jasmine.

But the evidence tells a different story.

Three distinct skull fractures, not one, three genital injuries consistent with sexual assault.

A child who suffered for 3 to six hours before dying with no medical intervention, no 911 call, no attempt to save her life.

And then a mother murdered to silence her to prevent her from reporting what she discovered.

This wasn’t an accident.

This was murder, calculated, intentional murder of a 22-month-old child.

Taylor’s voice grew stronger.

The defense asks us to believe Robert Leming’s version of events.

But Robert Leming has lied about everything, every single detail 21 times in one interview alone.

He lied to police.

He lied to the media.

He lied to the undercover officers.

He’s lying to this court right now.

The only time Robert Leming told the truth was when he pointed to that spot in Canonascus and said, “You’re looking at it.” Because he’s the only person who could have known where those bodies were.

He put them there.

He killed them both and he deserves to be convicted of both murders.

The courtroom was silent as Taylor sat down.

Justice Yamuchi took several weeks to consider the evidence.

In cases heard without a jury, the judge must write a detailed decision explaining the reasoning behind the verdict.

On January 17th, 2022, Justice Yamuchi delivered his 54-page decision.

The courtroom was packed.

Jasmine’s family sat in the front row holding hands.

Justice Yamamauchi began reading.

He reviewed the evidence systematically, the autopsy findings, the medical testimony, the undercover operation, the lies, the cover up, and then he addressed the central question.

Did Robert Leming murder Aaliyah Sanderson? I find the defendant’s testimony to be wholly unreliable.

Justice Yamuchi stated his pattern of deception documented throughout this investigation and trial undermines any credibility he might claim.

The medical evidence is clear.

Aaliyah Sanderson suffered three distinct skull fractures.

Dr.

Brooks Lim testified that these injuries are inconsistent with a single fall event.

Furthermore, the defendant had 3 to 6 hours during which Aaliyah was alive and suffering.

He made no attempt to seek medical help.

He made no call to emergency services.

He simply let her die.

The subsequent cover up, the destruction of evidence, the burial of both bodies together, all point to a consciousness of guilt regarding both deaths.

Justice Yamuchi paused, then delivered the verdict.

I find Robert Andrew Leming guilty of seconddegree murder in the death of Aaliyah Sanderson.

The courtroom erupted, tears, sobs, gasps of relief.

Jasmine’s mother collapsed into her sister’s arms.

Robert Leming showed no emotion.

He stared straight ahead, expressionless.

He’d been convicted of both murders.

In Canada, there’s a mandatory life sentence for murder.

That’s automatic.

The only question is parole eligibility.

For seconddegree murder, the minimum parole ineligibility period is 10 years.

The maximum is 25 years.

The prosecution was asking for the maximum 25 years before Robert Leming would be eligible even to apply for parole.

The defense was asking for the minimum, 10 years.

Justice Yamuchi scheduled the sentencing hearing for September 22, 2022.

That was 8 months after the verdict, giving both sides time to prepare their arguments.

But before the legal arguments would be heard, the court would hear from the family.

Victim impact statements are a crucial part of the Canadian justice system.

They give victims loved ones the opportunity to address the court directly, to explain how the crime has affected their lives, to make the human cost of the crime real and tangible.

Jasmine’s mother, Kim Blankard, prepared a statement.

Aaliyah’s grandmother, Jodie Sanderson, prepared a statement.

Jasmine’s sister, Genevie, prepared a statement, and on September 22nd, they would finally have their day in court.

Kim Blankard, Jasmine’s mother, sat in the witness box.

Her hands were shaking as she held her written statement.

Robert Leeing sat 20 ft away, expressionless, staring at the wall.

Kim began to read.

On April 23rd, 2019, my world ended.

That was the day I reported my daughter Jasmine and my granddaughter Aaliyah missing.

But I already knew a mother knows.

Her voice cracked.

She paused, took a breath, continued.

Jasmine was my baby girl.

She was quiet, loving, caring.

She wanted nothing more in life than to be a good mother, and she was.

She was the best mother Aaliyah could have asked for.

They were inseparable.

Where one went, the other followed.

Jasmine never left Aaliyah with babysitters.

She was always there, always present, always loving.

Kim’s hands gripped the paper tighter.

Since their murders, I have suffered nightmares, flashbacks.

I can’t sleep.

When I close my eyes, I see Jasmine and Aaliyah in those graves.

I see them suffering.

I see them scared and alone.

I have developed anxiety and depression.

I’ve had to seek counseling.

I’ve been prescribed medication just to get through the day.

But the worst part is the fear.

The constant paralyzing fear.

She looked directly at Robert Leming.

I’m afraid that when he gets out of prison, he’ll come after my family.

He knows where we live.

He knows our names.

He’s already shown he’s capable of unspeakable violence.

I fear for my other children.

I fear for my grandchildren.

I fear I’ll never feel safe again.

Tears stream down her face now.

Jasmine was only 25 years old.

She had her whole life ahead of her.

She wanted to watch Aaliyah grow up, go to school, graduate, get married.

She wanted to be a grandmother someday herself.

And Aaliyah, my sweet, perfect Aaliyah.

She was only 22 months old, not even 2 years old.

She never got to have a third birthday.

She never got to go to preschool.

She never got to learn to write her name.

That man took everything from them.

Everything.

Kim’s voice rose, anger breaking through the grief.

He murdered them.

He buried them like garbage.

He soaked them in gasoline like they were trash to be disposed of.

And then he went on television and lied.

He smiled and drank at pubs and acted like he’d done nothing wrong.

He deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.

He deserves to never breathe free air again.

He deserves to suffer the way Jasmine and Aaliyah suffered.

Kim sat back exhausted.

Her statement was complete.

Justice Yamuchi thanked her quietly.

I’m so sorry for your loss, Miss Blankert.

The court has heard your statement and will consider it during sentencing.

Next came Jodie Sanderson, Aaliyah’s paternal grandmother.

She could barely get through the first paragraph before breaking down.

Torture, she read through sobs.

Torture is the only word I can think of to describe how it feels to lose a loved one because they were the victim of neglect or homicide.

Her hands shook so violently she could barely hold the paper.

Court staff offered her water.

She declined.

The pain is overwhelming.

Sometimes it makes it difficult to concentrate, difficult to function, difficult to remember that life continues even when it feels like it shouldn’t.

Aaliyah was my grandbaby.

I loved her from the moment she was born.

She was a happy, healthy, beautiful little girl.

She walked early.

She tried to sing before she could talk.

She had the most amazing laugh.

Jasmine was an incredible mother to her.

Attentive, caring, loving.

She always put Aaliyah first in everything she did.

Jod looked up from her paper directly at Leming.

And you took them both away.

You murdered them.

You threw their bodies away like they were nothing.

Her voice broke completely.

Sobs racked her body.

I will never hold Aaliyah again.

I will never hear her laugh again.

I will never see her grow up.

All of those moments were stolen by you.

I hope you never know a moment of peace.

I hope every day in prison you think about what you did.

I hope you suffer the way you made them suffer.

Jodie couldn’t continue.

She handed the paper to the court clerk and returned to her seat where her family wrapped their arms around her.

Jasmine’s sister, Genevie, was the last to speak.

She was younger than Jasmine had been.

She looked fragile standing at the podium, but her voice was strong.

There are no words that can begin to describe the amount of pain and sadness I feel over the death of my sister Jasmine and my niece Aaliyah.

This loss has affected my entire family and will be something we carry with us for life.

Jasmine was more than my sister.

She was my best friend.

We talked every day.

We had family dinners every week.

She was always there for me, always supportive, always loving.

When she started dating Robert Leming, I was concerned.

They moved too fast.

Something felt off.

But Jasmine was an adult.

I couldn’t force her to leave.

I couldn’t protect her from something I didn’t fully understand was happening.

Geneviey’s voice grew harder.

I live with guilt every day.

Guilt that I didn’t do more.

Guilt that I didn’t somehow save her.

Guilt that I didn’t protect Aaliyah.

But the guilt belongs to only one person in this courtroom.

She stared at Leming.

You are a monster.

You murdered my sister.

You murdered my niece.

You destroyed my family.

I suffer from depression and anxiety now.

I have nightmares.

I’m afraid to trust people.

I’m afraid to be in relationships because I saw what happened to Jasmine when she trusted the wrong person.

I hope you never see freedom again.

I hope prison is hell for you.

I hope every single day you’re reminded of the evil you’ve committed.

Genevie’s statement concluded with a request.

I ask this court to impose the maximum sentence possible.

Robert Leming does not deserve mercy.

He showed no mercy to Jasmine and Aaliyah.

He deserves none in return.

After the victim impact statements, the court heard legal arguments about the appropriate parole ineligibility period.

Prosecutor Doug Taylor stood first.

Your honor, the crown is seeking a parole ineligibility period of 25 years, the maximum allowed by law.

These murders were particularly heinous.

A mother and her toddler, victims who were vulnerable, dependent, and trusting.

Robert Leming abused that trust in the worst way possible.

He murdered them.

He desecrated their bodies with gasoline.

He buried them in a remote location where they might never have been found.

The level of planning and premeditation is staggering.

He researched how to confuse cadaver dogs.

He destroyed evidence.

He shredded documents.

He burned belongings.

He lied repeatedly to police and media.

And even after being caught, even after leading police to the bodies, he continued to lie.

He claimed Aaliyah’s death was an accident when the medical evidence clearly showed otherwise.

This court found him guilty of both murders and the sentence should reflect the gravity of those crimes.

25 years is appropriate.

It’s necessary and it’s what justice demands.

Taylor sat down.

Bal for Dare rose for the defense.

This was an unenviable position.

How do you argue for leniency for a man convicted of murdering a mother and her toddler? Dare did his best.

Your honor, my client has accepted responsibility for Jasmine Love’s death.

He plead guilty to that murder on the first day of trial.

He spared the family the trauma of a full trial on that count.

While the court found him guilty of Aaliyah’s murder, the circumstances of that death remains somewhat unclear.

My client maintains that aspects of what happened were accidental.

A 10-year parole ineligibility period is the standard for secondderee murder.

While these are serious crimes, imposing the maximum sentence should be reserved for the most egregious cases.

My client is 37 years old.

A 10-year sentence means he wouldn’t be eligible for parole until age 47.

That’s still a significant portion of his life.

Additionally, my client will have to serve this sentence in the general prison population.

As someone convicted of murdering a child, he will face violence, threats, and constant danger from other inmates.

That is additional punishment beyond the legal sentence.

The crown has its pound of flesh, your honor.

Robert Leeing will spend life in prison.

The question is whether he gets a chance at parole at age 47 or age 62.

I ask this court to impose the standard 10-year parole ineligibility period.

Dare sat down.

Justice Yamuchi took several days to prepare his sentencing decision.

On November 10th, 2022, nearly 4 years after the murders, the court reconvened for sentencing.

The gallery was packed again.

Media, family, members of the public who’d followed the case.

Robert Leeing stood as Justice Yamuchi entered.

The judge began his decision by addressing the family directly.

To the families of Jasmine Loveit and Aaliyah Sanderson, I want to acknowledge your incredible strength throughout this process.

The impact statements you provided were powerful, heartbreaking, and essential to this court’s understanding of the true cost of these crimes.

No sentence I impose can bring back your loved ones.

No amount of time in prison can undo the harm that’s been done.

But I hope that justice, even imperfect justice, provides some measure of closure.

Justice Yamuchi then turned to the legal analysis.

Robert Leeing has been convicted of two counts of seconddegree murder.

Jasmine Lovevet, a woman who loved him and trusted him, and Aaliyah Sanderson, a toddler who was vulnerable and defenseless.

In determining the appropriate parole ineligibility period, I must consider several factors.

First, the nature and circumstances of the offenses.

These were particularly cruel murders.

The victims suffered.

Jasmine was beaten and shot.

Aaliyah suffered for hours before dying.

Second, the planning and deliberation involved.

Mr.

Leming went to great lengths to cover up these crimes.

He destroyed evidence.

He lied repeatedly.

He showed a callous disregard for the dignity of his victims.

Third, the vulnerability of the victims.

A young mother and her toddler.

They trusted Mr.

Leming.

They depended on him, and he betrayed that trust in the most horrific way imaginable.

Justice Yamuchi paused.

The defense has argued for the minimum 10-year period.

The crown has argued for the maximum 25 years.

I find that neither extreme is appropriate in this case.

The courtroom held its breath.

However, this case demands a sentence significantly above the minimum.

The murder of a child combined with the murder of the child’s mother combined with the extensive cover up efforts demands a substantial parole ineligibility period.

Robert Leeing, please stand.

Leming stood, still showing no emotion.

You murdered Jasmine Love It, a woman who loved you.

You breached her trust and committed the worst type of domestic violence imaginable.

You murdered Aaliyah Sanderson, a toddler who trusted you and felt safe in your arms.

There was forethought in your killing of this little girl as you killed her after you killed her mother.

You attempted to destroy evidence, to hide their bodies, to escape responsibility for your actions.

Justice Yamuchi’s voice grew firmer.

I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment with no parole eligibility for 22 years on each count to be served concurrently.

You will not be eligible to apply for parole until you have served 22 years of your sentence.

The courtroom erupted in applause and tears.

22 years.

Not the maximum, but close.

Not the minimum.

Not even close.

Robert Leming would be 59 years old before he could even apply for parole.

and there was no guarantee he’d be granted it.

Outside the courthouse, Jasmine’s family spoke to the media.

Kim Blankert, wiping tears from her eyes, addressed the cameras.

22 years without eligibility for parole is really good.

Obviously, 200 years is not going to bring them back, but we’re pleased.

We feel that justice has been served.

Justice for Jasmine and Aaliyah.

Janevi added, “It’s been very difficult, especially the fact that it’s been such a long process for my family and I, but we’re just really grateful today to have the closure that we do, considering that some families don’t get this type of closure.

We’re extremely grateful to be able to move forward.” Jodie Sanderson simply said, “He’s a monster.

That’s all there is to say, a monster, and I hope he suffers every day for what he did.” Robert Leming, perhaps predictably, appealed his conviction.

Specifically, he appealed the conviction for Aaliyah’s murder.

The guilty plea for Jasmine’s murder couldn’t be appealed since he’d entered that plea voluntarily, but he argued that Justice Yamuchi had aired in finding him guilty of murdering Aaliyah.

He claimed the medical evidence didn’t definitively rule out an accidental fall.

The appeal was filed in 2022 and heard by the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2024.

On July 11th, 2024, the Court of Appeal released its decision.

It was unanimous.

All three justices agreed.

The appeal was dismissed.

The court found that Justice Yamuchi had properly considered all the evidence.

The three distinct skull fractures.

The timeline of Aaliyah’s suffering.

The lack of any attempt to seek medical help.

The subsequent cover up.

All of this supported the conviction.

The verdict stood.

Robert Leming was guilty of both murders.

His convictions were final.

Robert Leming is currently incarcerated in a federal penitentiary in Alberta.

As Balfford Dear predicted during sentencing, life is not easy for him.

In prison culture, there’s a hierarchy and at the very bottom of that hierarchy are those convicted of crimes against children.

Leming has been assaulted multiple times by other inmates.

He’s been in segregation for his own protection.

He’s been moved between facilities due to threats on his life.

He will serve every day of his 22-year parole ineligibility period in constant danger.

And even after 22 years, parole is not automatic.

It’s not even likely.

The parole board will consider the nature of his crimes.

They’ll consider his behavior in prison.

They’ll consider whether he poses a risk to public safety.

Given that he murdered a mother and her toddler, showed no remorse, lied repeatedly, and appealed his conviction rather than accepting responsibility, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the parole board grants him release.

Robert Leming will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.

In Canonasca’s country, at the location where Jasmine and Aaliyah’s bodies were found, there’s a memorial.

Calgary Police Service created a plaque and installed it near the site.

It’s not publicly advertised.

The exact location remains somewhat private to protect the family, but those who know can visit.

The plaque reads, “In loving memory of Jasmine Lovevet and Aaliyah Sanderson, beloved daughter, mother, granddaughter, sister, and friend.

May they rest in peace, and may their memory be a blessing.” Investigators who work the case sometimes visit the site.

They leave flowers.

They pay their respects.” One detective told reporters, “This is one I’ll never forget.

This will stay with me till the day I die.

A mother and her baby.

We worked tirelessly to find them, to bring them home, to get justice, and we did.

But it doesn’t make it hurt any less.

Remember that excess fundraising money, the $25,000 Kim Blanket donated to the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter for Pet Friendly Rooms? That wasn’t the only memorial created in Jasmine and Aaliyah’s names.

The family also established the Jasmine Love It Memorial Scholarship through an organization called Gems for Gems, which supports survivors of domestic abuse in the Calgary area.

The scholarship provides financial assistance to women escaping abusive relationships.

It helps cover costs like first month’s rent, security deposits, furniture, clothing for job interviews, the things that make the difference between staying with an abuser and successfully building a new life.

As of 2024, the scholarship has helped over 30 women leave dangerous situations and start fresh.

30 lives potentially saved because Jasmine’s family chose to turn their grief into action.

In the Cranston neighborhood where Jasmine and Aaliyah lived, where they shopped at Soies, where they walked to the park, there’s a tradition now.

Every April around the anniversary of their deaths, purple ribbons appear tied to trees wrapped around lamp posts attached to fences.

Purple for domestic violence awareness, white for women against violence, pink for Aaliyah.

The community remembers.

And in remembering, they commit to doing better.

to watching for warning signs to helping those in danger to never looking away when someone might need help because Jasmine’s story is not unique.

Domestic violence kills women every day and often there are warning signs that get missed or ignored.

Robert Leming had a history.

Animal cruelty, allegations of abuse from his ex-wife, controlling behavior, a weapons collection, all warning signs, all red flags.

But Jasmine didn’t know.

Or maybe she did know and didn’t think it could happen to her.

We’ll never know.

What we do know is that awareness matters.

Education matters.

Supporting survivors matters.

And that’s the legacy Jasmine and Aaliyah’s family is trying to build.

In hindsight, the warning signs about Robert Leming were everywhere.

But hindsight is 2020.

When you’re living through a situation, when you’re the one in the relationship, those red flags can be harder to see.

Let’s review what we know about Leming’s history.

August 2018, convicted of animal cruelty for chaining his dog to a tree and leaving it to die.

2017 divorce.

Ex-wife alleges emotional abuse, volatile temper, excessive drinking, stalking, and expresses fear that he’s planning to harm her.

Weapons collection.

Owns two handguns, one shotgun, and approximately 60 knives.

Internet search history.

articles about chaining dogs to trees and about a mother and child dying in a houseire.

This is a profile of someone dangerous, someone capable of premeditated violence, someone who should never have had access to vulnerable people.

But here’s the problem.

Most of this information wasn’t publicly available.

Jasmine didn’t know about the animal cruelty conviction when she met Leming.

It had happened one month before they matched on a dating app, but criminal records aren’t always easy to access, especially for someone without a legal background.

She didn’t know about his ex-wife’s allegations.

Divorce records are often sealed or difficult to obtain.

Family court proceedings are usually confidential.

She didn’t know about his search history that was discovered by his ex-wife, but there’s no database where that information is shared.

So, Jasmine met a man on a dating app.

He seemed normal.

He had a job.

He owned a home.

He presented himself as a stable, reliable partner.

And she had no way of knowing the truth until it was too late.

This case raises serious questions about the safety of online dating.

Millions of people use dating apps.

They’re convenient.

They’re popular.

And for many people, they work.

Relationships form.

Marriages happen.

Families are built.

But there’s a dark side.

Dating apps typically require minimal verification.

You provide a name, an age, some photos.

Maybe you link your Instagram or Facebook, but there’s no criminal background check.

no verification that you are who you say you are.

And predators know this.

They can create profiles that present a completely false image.

They can hide their criminal histories.

They can lie about their employment, their relationships, their intentions.

And by the time the person they’re dating discovers the truth, they may already be in danger.

In Jasmine’s case, she moved in with Leming after approximately 1 month.

Her sister thought they were moving too fast.

But Jasmine was an adult.

She made her own choices.

Should dating apps do more to protect users? Should there be mandatory background checks? Should there be systems in place to flag users with histories of violence? These are complicated questions with no easy answers.

Privacy concerns, legal liability, technical challenges.

All of these factors make implementation difficult.

But when a 25-year-old mother and her toddler end up dead because of someone they met online, it’s worth asking whether more could be done.

One of the most significant warning signs in this case was Robert Leming’s animal cruelty conviction.

Research has consistently shown a link between animal abuse and interpersonal violence.

The FBI even tracks animal cruelty as a separate category of crime now because of its correlation with other violent offenses.

People who harm animals often escalate to harming people.

It’s not universal, but it’s common enough that law enforcement, social workers, and domestic violence advocates pay close attention to animal abuse as a predictor of future violence.

In Leming’s case, the pattern was clear.

August 2018, chains dog to tree, leaving it to die.

September 2018, meets Jasmine on dating app.

April 2019, murders Jasmine and Aaliyah.

Less than a year from animal cruelty to double homicide.

The link was there.

The warning sign was there.

But who was watching? Who was tracking Robert Leming to ensure he didn’t have access to vulnerable people? Nobody.

He served his sentence for animal cruelty.

He paid his fines and then he was free to do whatever he wanted.

Some jurisdictions have started implementing animal abuser registries similar to sex offender registries.

The idea is that people with convictions for animal cruelty would be barred from owning pets and their information would be publicly available.

It’s controversial.

Civil liberties groups argue it’s excessive, but domestic violence advocates argue it could save lives.

If such a registry had existed in Alberta, would it have saved Jasmine and Aaliyah? We can’t know for certain, but it might have given her information she needed to make a different choice.

Let’s talk about the bigger picture.

The reality of domestic violence in North America.

According to Statistics Canada, a woman is killed by her intimate partner or exartner approximately once every 6 days.

Once every 6 days.

In the United States, the numbers are even more staggering.

On average, three women are murdered by their intimate partners every single day.

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, more than car accidents, muggings, and stranger rapes combined.

And children are often caught in the crossfire.

Studies show that in 40 to 60% of homes where domestic violence occurs, child abuse is also happening.

Aaliyah Sanderson fits this heartbreaking statistic.

She died alongside her mother in an act of domestic violence.

But here’s what many people don’t realize.

The most dangerous time for a domestic violence victim is when they try to leave.

75% of domestic violence homicides occur at the point of separation or after the victim has left the relationship.

Which raises a terrible question about Jasmine’s case? What if she had been planning to leave? What if that’s why Leming killed her? We know from his testimony that Jasmine wanted marriage.

She wanted commitment.

She wanted a future together.

And we know that by January 2019, Leming claimed they were no longer romantically involved.

What happened between January and April? Was Jasmine making plans to move out? Was she threatening to take Aaliyah and leave? Did Robert Leing kill her to prevent her from escaping? We’ll never know for certain, but the timeline suggests that possibility.

One of the most common questions people ask about domestic violence cases is why didn’t she just leave? It’s a question that comes from a place of genuine confusion.

From the outside, it seems simple.

If someone is hurting you, you leave.

You get away.

You protect yourself.

But the reality is far more complicated.

Victims of domestic violence face countless barriers to leaving.

Financial dependence.

Many abusers control all the money.

The victim has no access to bank accounts, no credit cards, no independent income.

Where do you go when you have no money? Lack of support system.

Abusers often isolate their victims from friends and family.

By the time the victim is ready to leave, they may have nobody to turn to.

Fear.

This is the big one.

Victims know that leaving is dangerous.

They know that their abuser might escalate, might hunt them down, might kill them for daring to escape.

And they’re right to be afraid because, as we’ve already discussed, the statistics bear this out.

Leaving is the most dangerous time.

Children.

Many victims stay because they’re trying to protect their children.

They fear losing custody.

They fear the abuser getting unsupervised visitation.

They fear their children being harmed if they leave.

Jasmine was financially dependent on Robert Leming.

She paid rent.

Yes, but she lived in his house.

She was a stay-at-home mother with no independent income.

If she’d tried to leave, where would she have gone? How would she have supported herself and Aaliyah? These aren’t excuses.

They’re realities.

And they’re why domestic violence is so insidious and so difficult to escape.

Jasmine’s family tried to help.

They maintained regular contact.

They invited her to family dinners.

They stayed involved in her life.

When she disappeared, they immediately knew something was wrong.

They filed a missing person’s report within days.

They did everything right.

But could they have done more before it was too late? Genevie, Jasmine’s sister, has expressed guilt about not doing more.

She noticed that Jasmine and Leming were moving too fast.

She had concerns, but Jasmine was an adult.

How do you intervene in someone’s relationship without pushing them away? How do you express concern without being controlling? It’s a delicate balance.

Domestic violence experts recommend a few key approaches.

Stay connected.

Don’t let the abuser isolate the victim from you.

Keep reaching out.

Keep inviting them to events.

Keep communication lines open.

Express concern without judgment.

Instead of saying you need to leave him, try I’m worried about you.

I’m here if you need me.

Learn the warning signs.

Educate yourself about what domestic violence looks like.

It’s not always physical.

Emotional abuse, financial control, isolation.

These are all forms of abuse.

Have a safety plan.

If the victim isn’t ready to leave, help them create a plan for what to do if things escalate.

Where will they go? Who will they call? What will they take with them? Be patient.

On average, it takes a victim seven attempts to leave an abusive relationship before they leave permanently.

Don’t give up on them.

Jasmine’s family did many of these things.

They stayed connected.

They expressed concern.

They were there when she needed them.

But they couldn’t have predicted that Robert Leming would murder her and her daughter.

Some things are simply beyond our ability to prevent.

One aspect of this case that deserves recognition is the police response.

The Calgary Police Service treated Jasmine and Aaliyah’s disappearance seriously from day one.

They didn’t dismiss it as a woman who’d just run off with her kid.

They didn’t assume she’d turn up in a few days.

They immediately recognized the red flags and escalated to a homicide investigation.

They conducted extensive searches.

They interviewed witnesses.

They analyzed forensic evidence.

And when traditional methods weren’t yielding results, they got creative.

Operation Highwood, the undercover sting that ultimately cracked the case, was brilliant police work.

It was risky.

It required significant resources.

It involved highly trained specialists working around the clock.

But it worked.

Without that operation, Jasmine and Aaliyah might still be in that shallow grave in Canonascis, undiscovered, with Robert Leming walking free.

The prosecutor called it brilliant police work, and it absolutely was.

This case is an example of what can happen when law enforcement takes domestic violence seriously, dedicates appropriate resources, and refuses to give up.

The justice system also deserves recognition in this case.

Justice Yamuchi’s handling of the trial was exemplary.

He carefully considered all the evidence.

He wrote a detailed, thorough decision.

He imposed a sentence that reflected the gravity of the crimes.

22 years before parole eligibility is significant.

It sends a message that domestic violence, especially domestic violence that results in death, will not be tolerated.

It tells other victims that the system will take their cases seriously.

It tells other abusers that there are consequences for violence.

The sentence also considered the specific vulnerability of the victims, a mother and her toddler, people who trusted Leming and depended on him.

That breach of trust was a significant aggravating factor.

The Court of Appeals decision to uphold the conviction was equally important.

It affirmed that the evidence was solid, the verdict was just, and that Leming’s attempt to escape responsibility for Aaliyah’s murder would not succeed.

This case is an example of the justice system working as it should.

It’s not perfect.

It took years.

It was traumatic for the family.

Nothing can bring Jasmine and Aaliyah back, but justice was served, and that matters.

Media coverage of domestic violence cases is a double-edged sword.

On one hand, publicity can help.

It keeps pressure on investigators.

It keeps the public engaged.

It can lead to tips and information that help solve cases.

On the other hand, media coverage can sensationalize tragedy.

It can invade privacy.

It can turn victims into spectacles.

In Jasmine and Aaliyah’s case, the media coverage was generally respectful and appropriate.

Nancy Hickst from Global News, who conducted that notorious interview with Robert Leming outside the pub, later covered the trial extensively.

Her reporting was thorough, factual, and victim focused.

CBC News provided detailed coverage of the investigation, trial, and sentencing.

Their reporting highlighted the domestic violence aspects of the case and provided resources for victims.

Local Calgary media treated the family with respect, giving them opportunities to tell Jasmine and Aaliyah’s story in their own words rather than reducing them to nameless victims.

This kind of responsible journalism serves an important purpose.

It educates the public.

It honors the victims.

It holds the justice system accountable.

So, what have we learned from this heartbreaking case? First, animal cruelty is a serious warning sign.

People who harm animals often escalate to harming people.

We need better tracking, better intervention, and better public awareness of this connection.

Second, online dating requires caution.

While apps are convenient, they don’t provide the same social vetting that traditional dating does.

Background checks, asking questions, taking things slowly, these precautions can save lives.

Third, domestic violence can happen to anyone.

Jasmine was educated, had a supportive family, and seemed to be in a stable situation, but she still became a victim.

We need to stop asking why didn’t she leave and start asking why did he abuse.

Fourth, the most dangerous time is when the victim tries to leave.

We need better resources for women escaping abusive relationships, shelters, financial assistance, legal support, protection orders.

All of these can make the difference between life and death.

Fifth, children are often victims, too.

Aaliyah didn’t choose to be in Robert Leming’s home.

She was there because her mother was there.

We need to recognize that domestic violence affects entire families, not just intimate partners.

Sixth, community matters.

The ribbons in Cranston, the vigils, the fundraising, the ongoing support for Jasmine and Aaliyah’s family.

This is what communities should do.

Remember, support.

Act seventh.

Good police work matters.

Without the dedication of Calgary police investigators, without Operation Highwood, without the refusal to give up, this case might never have been solved.

Eighth.

Justice matters.

Even though it can’t bring back the dead, even though it can’t undo the trauma, holding offenders accountable sends a crucial message.

Violence has consequences.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please know that help is available.

In Canada, you can call the Canadian Domestic Violence Hotline at 18007997233.

That’s 1800799 safe.

In the United States, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-8007-997233.

Same number, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In the UK, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is 08082000247.

These hotlines are staffed by trained advocates who can provide safety planning, help figuring out how to leave safely or how to stay safe if leaving isn’t currently an option, emotional support, someone to talk to who understands what you’re going through, resources and referrals, information about shelters, legal aid, financial assistance, counseling, and other services.

And importantly, these calls are confidential.

They won’t show up on your phone bill.

The advocates won’t contact police without your permission.

Beyond hotlines, there are other resources.

Local domestic violence shelters provide temporary housing, food, clothing, child care, and support services.

Legal aid organizations can help with protection orders, divorce proceedings, and custody issues.

Counseling services, both individual and group, help survivors process trauma and rebuild their lives.

Financial assistance programs help with things like security deposits, first month’s rent, job training, and child care costs.

You don’t have to face this alone.

Help is available.

But what if you’re not the victim? What if you’re the friend, the family member, the co-orker who suspects someone you care about is being abused? Here’s what you can do.

Educate yourself.

Learn the warning signs of domestic violence.

Physical abuse is just one form.

Look for signs of emotional abuse, financial control, isolation, and intimidation.

Stay connected.

Abusers isolate their victims.

Fight against that by maintaining regular contact.

Keep inviting them to things even if they say no.

Let them know you’re there.

Express concern without judgment.

Don’t criticize their partner or demand they leave.

Instead, say things like, “I’ve noticed some things that worry me.

I’m here if you ever want to talk.

Listen without pushing.

If they do open up to you, listen.

Don’t interrupt.

Don’t offer solutions unless they ask.

Sometimes people just need to be heard.

Help them make a safety plan.

This includes identifying safe places to go, keeping important documents accessible, having emergency money saved, and knowing who to call in a crisis.

Respect their choices.

Leaving an abusive relationship is complicated and dangerous.

The victim knows their situation better than you do.

Support their decisions even if you don’t agree with them.

Be patient.

It might take years for them to be ready to leave.

Don’t give up on them.

And most importantly, believe them.

If someone tells you they’re being abused, believe them.

Don’t minimize it.

Don’t make excuses for the abuser.

Just believe them and support them.

Jasmine Love It and Aaliyah Sanderson died on April 16th or 17th, 2019.

Their bodies were found on May 6th, 2019.

Robert Leeing was convicted on January 17th, 2022.

He was sentenced on November 10th, 2022.

And now, years later, what is their legacy? The three pet friendly rooms at Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter, where survivors of domestic violence can escape with their animals and know everyone will be safe.

The Jasmine Love It Memorial Scholarship, which has helped over 30 women leave abusive relationships and start fresh.

The purple ribbons that appear in Cranston every April, reminding the community to watch for warning signs and support those in danger.

The memorial plaque in Canonascis, where investigators and family members go to pay their respects and remember two beautiful souls taken too soon.

But perhaps their greatest legacy is this awareness.

Every person who learns about this case and then recognizes warning signs in their own life or the lives of others.

Every person who decides to take domestic violence seriously instead of looking the other way.

Every person who supports a friend trying to leave an abusive relationship.

Every person who donates to a shelter or volunteers their time to help survivors.

Every person who teaches their children that violence is never acceptable.

That control is not love.

That everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

That’s Jasmine and Aaliyah’s legacy.

And it’s a powerful one.

What about Robert Leming? What’s his legacy? He’ll be remembered as a monster, as someone who betrayed trust in the worst possible way.

As someone who murdered a woman who loved him and a child who depended on him.

He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.

Even after 22 years, parole is unlikely.

The nature of his crimes, his lack of remorse, his continued lies, all of this will work against him.

He’ll be in constant danger from other inmates.

People convicted of crimes against children are targets in prison.

He’ll likely spend significant time in protective custody, which is essentially solitary confinement.

He’ll have decades to think about what he did, to remember Jasmine and Aaliyah, to live with the knowledge that he destroyed multiple families.

Will he ever feel remorse? Will he ever take true responsibility? We don’t know.

Some people are incapable of empathy or remorse.

Some people are so fundamentally broken that they’ll never understand the harm they’ve caused.

Robert Leming has shown no signs of genuine remorse.

Even his guilty plea for Jasmine’s murder came only after evidence made conviction inevitable.

He fought the Aaliyah conviction all the way to the court of appeal.

He’s never apologized.

He’s never explained why he did what he did.

He’s never shown any concern for the suffering he caused.

And perhaps that’s the most chilling aspect of this case, the complete absence of humanity in someone who looked from the outside completely normal.

This case, as horrific as it is, is not unique.

Women are killed by intimate partners every single day.

Children die in domestic violence situations every single day.

And every single time, families are left asking, “How did we miss the signs? How did we not know? How did this happen?” The answer is that abusers are often very good at hiding who they really are.

They present a normal face to the world.

They’re charming to outsiders.

They maintain jobs, own homes, have friends.

The abuse happens behind closed doors.

in private moments where nobody else can see.

And by the time the truth comes out, it’s often too late.

So, what do we do? How do we prevent the next Jasmine and Aaliyah? We educate.

We talk about domestic violence openly instead of treating it as a private family matter.

We support survivors.

We provide resources, shelters, legal assistance, financial help.

We hold abusers accountable.

We take restraining order violations seriously.

We prosecute domestic violence cases aggressively.

We don’t let people off with warnings or light sentences.

We teach healthy relationship skills.

We educate young people about what love actually looks like, about consent, about respect, about equality.

We pay attention to warning signs, animal cruelty, controlling behavior, isolation tactics, extreme jealousy, rapid relationship progression, and we believe victims.

When someone says they’re being abused, we don’t question why they stayed or what they did to provoke it.

We just believe them and help them.

This is how we prevent future tragedies.

This is how we honor Jasmine and Aaliyah’s memory.

If you’re watching this and you’re in an abusive relationship, I want you to know something.

It’s not your fault.

Whatever your partner has told you, whatever you’ve told yourself, the abuse is not your fault.

You didn’t cause it.

You can’t fix it, and you don’t deserve it.

Nobody deserves to be hit, insulted, controlled, isolated, threatened, or made to feel worthless.

You deserve to be safe.

You deserve to be respected.

You deserve to be loved in a healthy way.

And I know leaving is complicated.

I know it’s scary.

I know there are financial concerns, custody concerns, safety concerns.

But please know that help is available.

There are people who understand what you’re going through.

There are resources that can help you leave safely when you’re ready.

You don’t have to do this alone.

And to those watching who know someone in an abusive relationship, be patient, be supportive, be there, don’t judge, don’t push, don’t give ultimatums.

Just be present.

Let them know you care.

Let them know you’ll help when they’re ready.

And keep watching.

Keep checking in.

Keep offering support because you might be the lifeline that makes the difference between another tragedy and a survivor’s escape.

Jasmine Lovevet was 25 years old when she died.

She had her whole life ahead of her.

She wanted to watch her daughter grow up.

She wanted to be a grandmother someday.

Aaliyah Sanderson was 22 months old, not even 2 years old.

She never got to go to preschool.

She never got to learn to write her name.

She never got to celebrate her third birthday.

They were buried in a shallow grave in the mountains, soaked in gasoline, discarded like garbage by a man they trusted.

But they were not garbage.

They were precious.

They were loved.

They were valued.

Jasmine was a devoted mother, a loving daughter, a caring sister, a good friend.

Aaliyah was a happy toddler with an infectious laugh, a child full of promise and potential.

They deserved better than what they got.

They deserve to live full, long, happy lives.

Instead, they’re gone, stolen by violence, taken by someone who should have protected them.

But their story doesn’t end in that grave in Canonascis.

It continues in the shelter rooms that bear their names.

In the scholarship that helps survivors escape, in the ribbons that remind a community to stay vigilant, in the awareness raised by their tragedy.

It continues every time someone learns about their case and decides to take domestic violence seriously.

Every time someone reaches out to a friend who might need help.

Every time someone donates to a shelter or volunteers their time.

Every time someone teaches a child that violence is never acceptable.

That’s Jasmine and Aaliyah’s legacy.

And it’s a legacy worth honoring.

Rest in peace, Jasmine.

Love it and Aaliyah Sanderson.

You deserved so much better.

You are not forgotten and your deaths will not be in vain.

This has been Cold Case Desk.

Thank you for watching this five-part documentary on the murders of Jasmine Love and Aaliyah Sanderson.

If this case affected you, if it resonated with you, please take action.

Donate to your local domestic violence shelter.

Volunteer your time.

Educate yourself and others.

support survivors in your life.

And if you enjoyed this deep dive, please like this video, subscribe to ColdCast, hit that notification bell, and leave a comment sharing your thoughts.

I’ll see you in the next case.

Take care of yourselves and take care of each