IQALUIT - Mark King Jeffrey pleaded guilty to second degree murder last Monday in the death of 13-year-old Jennifer Naglingniq in 2002.

Mark King Jeffrey is escorted to court by RCMP in 2004. - NNSL file photo

On April 23, the Crown dropped first degree murder charges in exchange for Jeffrey's guilty plea to the lesser charge.

He will be sentenced on April 30 in Iqaluit.

Jennifer Naglingniq was found dead in her mother's apartment on Dec. 6, 2002, from a large number of stab wounds.

Jeffrey's trial began last September with months of voir dires, trials within a trial, to determine if evidence is admissible.

There were 38 pieces of evidence being considered by the judge. Two were ruled inadmissible and one was withdrawn by the crown council.

The evidence reveals how Jeffrey lied to police from the outset of the investigation, even as another man was in jail for the murder, and even to the point of pinning the blame on the victim's mother.

Police first arrested and charged a different man on Dec. 17, 2002 for the girl's murder, but released him on Dec. 23 due to a lack of evidence.

RCMP had interviewed Jeffrey for the first time on Dec. 11. His name had come up during the investigation.

Police interviewed his mother, sister and girlfriend to figure out if Jeffrey was telling the truth that he had been out with friends from 7 to 11 p.m. on the night of the murder.

Jeffrey's mother told RCMP Jeffrey had left their shared home at around 7 p.m. on the night of the murder, and returned at around 8:30 p.m., with blood on his lip and a red eye. He had told her he had been in a fight with a man named Noah from Cape Dorset.

After being questioned by the RCMP, Jeffrey's mother pressed her son on the matter and he admitted to her he had been present during the murder.

Jeffrey's mother went to the RCMP on Dec. 23 and told them what Jeffrey had told her.

His story was that the girl's mother had committed the murder, stabbing her daughter repeatedly with a steak knife until the blade broke. Then, he claimed, she retrieved another steak knife and continued stabbing.

He further claimed that Naglingniq slit her daughter's wrists, and pulled down her pants to make it look like a sexual assault.

Jeffrey had told his mother that his red eye came from holding Jessica after she had been stabbed, while she was scratching and kicking due to the stab wounds.

Jeffrey's mother died in a motor vehicle accident in 2003 and could not testify, but the court ruled that her statements to the police were admissible as evidence.

After speaking with Jeffrey's mother on Dec. 23, 2002, RCMP brought Jeffrey in for an interview that evening, which continued the next day.

At the end of the Christmas Eve interview, Jeffrey suggested to the cops that he wear a wire and meet with the victim's mother and record her admitting her involvement.

Late on Dec. 30, the RCMP contacted their new agent, and found he was intoxicated.

Jeffrey revealed new details about the murder to the officers, saying that Naglingniq's mother had disconnected the phone, removed a firearm from the residence, and let the dog outside.

On Jan. 17, on his fourth attempt to speak with the victim's mother, Jeffrey succeeded but his recording device was turned off during the meeting, and RCMP suspected he did it on purpose. They also noted that Naglingniq's dog - known as a vicious attack dog - knew Jeffrey and showed no aggression to him.

On March 13, 2003, the RCMP brought Jeffrey in again, this time with a warrant to obtain a blood sample.

Jeffrey was arrested at the Iqaluit airport on March 23, 2003 and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jennifer Naglingniq. DNA from his blood sample matched blood found at the scene.

While at Baffin Correctional Centre, RCMP used a tactic on Jeffrey called the "cell-mate scenario." The day before his arrest, RCMP brought in an undercover specialist to be placed in the cell next to Jeffrey, hoping he would confide in his neighbour.

The undercover officer described to Jeffrey that police routinely put undercover officers in cells, in order to distract Jeffrey from the fact he was indeed one of those undercover officers.

Jeffrey disregarded the advice of the undercover officer, and the next day asked him if he had ever seen a roomful of blood.

The officer responded "animal blood?" and Jeffrey said no.

"No, human blood. It's different. I smelled it. I even tasted it.

"I can't describe it. It smells sweet," said Jeffrey to the undercover officer.