Sounak Sengupta
Investigation Discovery’s ‘See No Evil: Mr. Big’ depicts how 36-year-old Dexter Bain was murdered in a bar in Calgary, Canada, in November 2010. The part-time bartender had closed the pub and was drinking with two acquaintances when the incident happened. While the police identified the killer within weeks of the crime, they had to mount an audacious sting operation and arrest the perpetrator more than a year later.
Dexter Bain Was Shot to Death
Dexter Bain was born to Kim Godin-Lubrano and Jeff Bain in Calgary, Alberta, on March 16, 1974. The 36-year-old worked part-time as a bartender at the Our Place Pub & Grill on 3709 26th Avenue North Eeast in November 2010. His mother, Kim, recalled, “Dexter loved his part-time job at the bar. He had a lot of friends and would be happy to help out anyone.” According to the show, he agreed to close out as a favor to the owner on November 27. Kim added, “He always strived to aid in fixing stuff and was too kind, probably to a fault.”
His daughter, Ashley Mannix, recalled, “I probably saw a different side of him because I had him as a father. All my memories of him centered around him being super goofy all the time since he probably knew it would make me super happy.” Around 3:35 am on November 27, the police received a distressing 911 call that stated a shooting had occurred at the Our Place Pub and someone had been critically injured. When the first responders arrived at the scene, they found Dexter in acute pain, requiring immediate medical intervention.
Unfortunately, by the time he was rushed to the hospital, Dexter had already succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead upon arrival. The coroner found two entry wounds in the back but no exit wounds and was able to retrieve two .22-caliber bullets from the body. According to the autopsy, the fatal shots might have bounced off some bone and punctured his lungs, leading to internal bleeding and death. Kim stated, “He was shot in the back. That’s a coward that shoots not once but twice. I can’t say anything less.”
Dexter Bain Was Killed in a Robbery Gone Wrong
The investigators interviewed the two patrons who called 911 and learned they were inside the bar when they heard two loud bangs from the back of the service area. According to them, Dexter came running in from the back and urged them to flee, claiming a group had assaulted and shot him while trying to break in. The customers claimed they did not see any of the perpetrators except for an individual wearing a dark-colored hoodie. The police found a pool cue and a large 2-by-4 piece of wood with a T on the top in the snow-covered parking lot.
The patrons claimed they and Dexter grabbed these as defensive weapons on their way out since they thought they were being attacked. However, the group did not follow them, and Dexter collapsed between the pub and a convenience store next door. The investigators found several footprints on the service area floor inside and in the snow outside the bar’s rear entrance. They also noticed a camera on the wall opposite the kitchen, but the owner said it was a red herring and not operational.
However, the police had a breakthrough when they checked the neighboring convenience store’s surveillance footage and saw a group of three entering around the time of the shooting. One of the individuals was wearing a black hoodie, and the trio matched the general description provided by the patrons. The police printed out snaps of the video and circulated it among the police departments nationwide. One of the officers immediately recognized two of the individuals since he had been investigating a similar incident four weeks ago.
While it was a non-fatal shooting, the authorities had recovered similar .22-caliber rounds and a cell phone from the crime scene. The tech team was able to open the phone and retrieve several videos of a self-declared rap group. The police identified one of the three individuals as Kyle Victor Ledesma and re-checked the convenience store’s surveillance footage to determine he concealed a gun in his back pocket on the night of the murder. Fifteen weeks after Dexter’s shooting, the police caught another breakthrough when Kyle’s cousin was shot.
The cousin was non-fatally shot with similar .22-caliber bullets, and a passerby retrieved a 22-caliber Ruger pistol that was traced back to Kyle. However, the small caliber projectiles recovered from Dexter’s body were not enough to link it with the gun. The police mounted an audacious sting operation to bring in Kyle, with the law enforcement officials creating a make-believe crime group headed by a fictitious boss named Mr. Big. Undercover officers made contact with Kyle, pretending to be members of this fictional organization.
After months of winning his confidence, the undercover agents invited him to Vancouver to meet Mr. Big under the pretense of providing him with false documents and making him join the organization. Kyle, then 32, narrated the same detailed story to the undercover officers on both December 2, 2011, in Edmonton and January 16, 2012, in Vancouver. He claimed Dexter put up a fight during the break-in, and he shot him twice in the back before fleeing with 15 pounds of marijuana and $10,000 cash.
Kyle Ledesma Was Sentenced to Life in Prison With Parole
Kyle Ledesma’s confessions were recorded and presented as evidence during his March 2015 trial. The prosecution claimed the two surreptitious confessions were “the most compelling and accurate evidence of what happened.” They included intricate details of the shooting that had not been released in the public domain. Based on the confessions and the surveillance footage from the convenience store, the prosecutors alleged there was enough evidence to convict him of Dexter’s murder.
He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life. However, the Court of Appeal overturned the earlier conviction, and Kyle again stood trial in early 2019. His defense brought in Harlan Obey, who was the second individual identified from the surveillance footage. Harlan claimed Kyle was with him on the night of the murder, and the two of them, along with Chris Ates, had gone to the store to buy drinks and chips.
He alleged they had gone to Kyle’s place to play video games and had no knowledge of any gun. But the jury again returned with a guilty verdict, and Kyle was resentenced to life in prison without parole for a minimum of 12 years. A three-member Court of Appeal panel subsequently turned down Kyle’s appeal for a third trial in April 2021. According to the last known reports, he was to be eligible for full parole in January 2024, yet it’s unclear whether he has since been released or if he remains incarcerated in an Alberta prison to this day.
Read More: Angelica Ramirez Murder: How Did Romiro Villegas Die?
