He’s Been Called The Canadian Chris Watts- The Story of Jasmine & Aliyah

He’s Been Called The Canadian Chris Watts- The Story of Jasmine & Aliyah

“On Tuesday, April 23rd, we received a report that a young mother and her daughter are missing. Over the past two days of looking for them, we have been unable to find any evidence confirming that 25-year-old Jasmine Lovett or 22-month-old Aaliyah Sanderson are alive.”

The story I have for you today is about a mother and daughter who suddenly vanished from their home one day. Finding them—as well as finding enough evidence to charge anyone with their disappearance—proved to be a major challenge for investigators. This is the story of Jasmine Lovett and Aaliyah Sanderson.

Jasmine Lovett was born on May 2nd, 1993, and lived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She was a kind, generous, and funny person who was very close to her mother, Kim, and her sister, Genevieve. When she was just 22 years old, Jasmine and her boyfriend at the time, Robbie Sanderson, found out that they were expecting a baby.

On June 24th, 2017, Jasmine gave birth to their daughter, Aaliyah Lynn Sanderson. Aaliyah was said to be a sweet and smart little girl who was absolutely everything to her mother. She was described as happy-go-lucky, a quick learner, and a little spitfire.

Not long after the birth of their daughter, Jasmine and Robbie started having relationship problems. Robbie began coming home later and later at night, usually drunk or high. Then one day, he started demanding money from Jasmine so he could buy more drugs and alcohol. He became very aggressive and persistent, which worried her. Eventually, she gave in and told Robbie she would get him the money.

However, instead of going upstairs to grab her purse, she ran into the bedroom, locked the door behind her, and contacted the police. Realizing what she was doing, Robbie kicked down the bedroom door in a fury and snatched Jasmine’s cell phone from her hands. He didn’t physically hurt her at that point, choosing instead to leave the house.

Following this incident, Jasmine obtained a protection order against Robbie. That order was revoked just 13 days later when the couple went before a judge and stated they had worked out their issues. Shortly after, Jasmine and Robbie decided to go their separate ways, with Jasmine gaining full custody of Aaliyah.

In September 2018, 24-year-old Jasmine met 34-year-old Robert Leeming online. Robert was born in Germany but had moved around frequently as a child due to his father being in the military. Partially because of this, he had struggled to make friends throughout his life.

Just a month after they began dating, Jasmine and Aaliyah moved into Robert’s townhome in Cranston, Alberta, Canada. Things initially seemed to go well despite how quickly they had moved in together. Robert appeared to adore Aaliyah, constantly doting on her and helping Jasmine whenever needed.

By December 2018, however, the couple’s relationship turned sour. Jasmine texted her sister telling her they had broken up, though they decided to continue living together. She also confided in her sister that she had recently gotten pregnant by Robert but had chosen to end the pregnancy.

Things seemed to return to normal a few weeks later when Jasmine texted Genevieve again to say she and Robert had gotten back together. On April 14th, 2019, Jasmine, Robert, and Aaliyah got together with Jasmine’s family. According to Genevieve, Jasmine and Robert seemed distant that night, as if there was noticeable tension between them.

The sisters planned to meet for dinner a few nights later on April 19th, just the two of them. But when the day came, Jasmine didn’t show up. When her sister called and texted, she received no answer, which immediately concerned her. Genevieve headed over to Jasmine and Robert’s townhome that evening.

When she arrived, she noticed a light on inside, but no one answered when she knocked on the door. Genevieve waited for some time, knocking repeatedly, but eventually left after having no success.

The next day, Jasmine’s mother went to the house because she hadn’t heard from her daughter either. Receiving no answer at the door, she left a note taped to the front door asking Jasmine to call. While there, Jasmine’s mother noticed two pairs of sneakers sitting by the front door—one of which was soaking wet, as if it had just been washed.

On April 23rd, Jasmine was scheduled to meet her family again for dinner, but she missed it once more. Realizing something was wrong, Jasmine’s mother and sister filed a missing persons report, and police immediately began searching for Jasmine and Aaliyah. Jasmine’s ex-boyfriend, Robbie, was not considered a suspect and fully cooperated with authorities.

While her family last saw her on April 14th, surveillance footage caught Jasmine at a local grocery store with Aaliyah on April 15th. On April 16th, authorities discovered that Robert had dropped Aaliyah off at daycare around 7:00 AM and picked her up around 4:45 PM. Because Robert was not on the approved pickup list, daycare workers had to contact Jasmine to confirm it was okay. This was the last time anyone had direct contact with Jasmine, though two days later her credit card was used to order food online.

Believing Robert was the last person to see them, detectives tried calling his cell phone but couldn’t reach him. On April 24th, officers went to the townhome. Robert’s car was in the driveway and lights were on, but no one answered the door. The front window curtain was drawn, and the glass on the door was covered from the inside with cellophane.

Outside, an officer noticed a wet trunk liner draped over an air conditioner unit, alongside an unwound hose. Knowing someone was inside but lacking a search warrant, police called the fire department to bring a ladder truck so they could look through the second-story windows. Only when the ladder truck arrived did Robert finally open the front door.

When officers confronted him, the interaction went as follows:

Robert: “How’s it going?”

Officer: “Says she’s with her sister.”

Robert: “Huh. Well, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

Officer: “All right. Well, we’re just going to take a quick look around.”

Robert: “Have a look.”

Officer: “So, sir, you’re Robert?”

Robert: “Yeah.”

Officer: “Okay.”

Robert: “So, I was sleeping. I sleep with plugs in. And hey…”

Officer: “We’ve been here for hours and hours, banging on your door and the doorbell.”

Robert: “I’ve been drinking and smoking a lot, so… okay.”

Officer: “Okay. So, she’s not with her sister.”

Robert: “What do you mean?”

Officer: “Well, that’s the reason that we’re here. Why do you think we’re here? The family is calling us saying, ‘We haven’t heard from our daughter and our sister.'”

Robert: “Yeah, makes sense.”

Officer: “Okay. Why does that make sense?”

Robert: “Because I haven’t either.”

Officer: “Okay. So, did you guys get into some sort of argument?”

Robert: “Well, not that you’re aware of… like, you’re not making a whole lot of sense to me. Sorry, I’m still getting my bearings here. So, she’s not with her family, but she did threaten to move out, I don’t know, like three weeks ago. We got into a tiff… she threw a bunch of my stuff out—food, stuff like that—and I had just about had it. Nothing that would concern me.”

Officer: “Nothing that would concern you. Okay.”

Robert: “I mean, I’ve had people living with me before and they move out, right? But this isn’t just like a roommate. This is your girlfriend.”

Robert: “She’s more of a roommate than a girlfriend.”

Officer: “Okay. So the last time that you saw Jasmine was when?”

Robert: “Thursday.”

Officer: “Okay. And at that time, were you guys A-OK, or fighting, or what was the status?”

Robert: “I would say in the air, judging by what’s obviously gone down here.”

Officer: “So, what makes you believe that she’s with her sister?”

Robert: “She told me that she was going to go and spend Easter with them. On Tuesday she was talking about it, because I don’t have my son, so, you know, I was kind of depressed about that and drinking.”

Officer: “Does she have a car?”

Robert: “No.”

Officer: “I’ll have to phone Mom and start digging… Did you see the note on the door?”

Robert: “I didn’t know.”

Officer: “Okay, I’m going to go make a call to Mom and try and get some more info.”

Not only was it strange that Robert refused to open the door for so long, but he also showed zero concern for the missing mother and child.

Police shortly after issued a statement:

“On Tuesday, April 23rd, we received a report that a young mother and her daughter are missing. Over the past two days of looking for them, we have been unable to find any evidence confirming that 25-year-old Jasmine Lovett or 22-month-old Aaliyah Sanderson are alive. Based on this, we now believe that we are investigating a double homicide…”

Robert was brought in for questioning while police looked into his background. His ex-wife, Sarah, described Robert as neglectful, manipulative, and emotionally abusive. He frequently gaslit her, made her question her own sanity, and blamed her for his failures. He had also been fired from multiple jobs for alleged theft and drank heavily while using marijuana daily, leading to aggressive rants. His collection of weapons had also grown substantially over time.

In one disturbing incident, Robert tied their dog to a tree in a park and abandoned it without food or water. Someone rescued the dog, leading to three animal cruelty charges against Robert. He pleaded guilty, paid $5,000 in fines, and received a 10-year ban on owning animals. Sarah later found suspicious computer searches on his device—including articles about abandoning pets and a mother and son dying in a house fire—which led her to leave him out of fear for her safety.

During interrogation, Robert claimed that on April 17th, he, Jasmine, and Aaliyah went for a picnic near Bragg Creek, about 30 minutes away. After returning home, he claimed Jasmine watched TV while he prepared for a date with another woman, as he and Jasmine were no longer together. He claimed that when he returned from his date, Jasmine and Aaliyah were gone, and he assumed they had left on their own.

Police interviewed the woman he went on a date with, who confirmed meeting him on a dating app in February 2019—just four months after Jasmine and Aaliyah moved in. She stated Robert never let her visit his townhome, claiming it was messy or citing a “roommate.”

Lacking sufficient evidence to hold Robert, police released him, but seized his cell phone, car, and obtained a warrant to search his home. Phone records showed that on April 23rd—the day the missing report was filed—Robert had deleted nearly 30 photos of himself and Jasmine, text messages between them, and photos of a firearm.

Cell tower data also placed Robert in the Bragg Creek area on April 17th. When investigators searched the area, they found a recent fire pit containing burnt seat belts from a car seat, diapers, a stroller, toddler shoes matching Aaliyah’s size, fragments of a children’s book, and a Jungle Book DVD, along with traces of fire accelerant. Surveillance footage from a local gas station showed Robert filling his car and a gas container with fuel, and later taking his Mercedes through a car wash.

At his townhome, detectives discovered several alarming things: the front door was barricaded from the inside with two long poles, multiple wall sections had been freshly sanded and repainted, and the master bedroom had a digital lock on the door. Inside the bedroom was a gun safe loaded with firearms and ammunition. Security footage also captured Robert dumping items into a garage trash receptacle. A search of the trash revealed a partially melted firearm piece, Jasmine’s prescription medication, her shredded passport, and baby toys. Oddly, raw bacon strips were found scattered throughout the house.

Despite these findings, police still had not located the bodies, and Robert remained free. During this time, he freely spoke to news reporters on camera, calmly denying any involvement and claiming he hoped they would be found.

Investigators eventually launched an undercover sting operation to obtain a confession. In early May, two undercover officers approached Robert, pretending to believe his innocence and claiming a neighbor had taken evidence from his home during the search and given it to them. They invited Robert for drinks to discuss handling the evidence, eventually bringing him to a warehouse under the guise of an illegal gun operation.

After gaining his trust, Robert admitted to cheating on Jasmine and confessed to murdering both Jasmine and Aaliyah. He explained that after killing them, he drove to Bragg Creek, wrapped their bodies in blue moving blankets, doused them in gasoline to throw off cadaver dogs, and buried them under dirt, debris, and mulch. He admitted placing raw bacon around his home for the same reason. He even bragged about evading detection because his 2014 Mercedes lacked the advanced location tracking built into 2018 and newer models.

The undercover officers offered to help move the bodies to a location where police would never find them. Just five hours after meeting the undercover officers, Robert agreed to lead them to the grave site.

In a densely wooded area off Highway 40, about 70 miles west of their home, police recovered the bodies of Jasmine and Aaliyah. They had been wrapped in blue blankets, covered in gasoline, dirt, and branches, and buried in a shallow grave. Both victims had suffered severe blunt force head trauma. Aaliyah had three head injuries and a spinal injury, while Jasmine had suffered a gunshot wound behind her left ear.

On May 7th, Robert Leeming was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder. His trial began in October 2021. He pleaded guilty to Jasmine’s murder but denied killing Aaliyah, claiming the toddler fell down the stairs accidentally on April 17th and later died in her sleep.

However, forensic evidence contradicted his claim. Aaliyah’s head injuries were far too severe to have been caused by a simple fall, and medical examiners found evidence of physical abuse inflicted shortly before her death. The prosecution argued that Jasmine caught Robert abusing Aaliyah, leading him to murder Jasmine to silence her, and then murder Aaliyah to eliminate witnesses.

Robert Leeming was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 22 years. He showed no emotion during sentencing.

Jasmine’s family expressed relief at the verdict, noting that while no sentence could bring them back, it finally offered closure after a long judicial process. A private funeral was held for Jasmine and Aaliyah, and they were buried together at Queen’s Park Cemetery in Calgary. Two memorial trees were planted in their honor at Fish Creek Park, and a community candlelight vigil was held on Mother’s Day in Cranston to remember them.