Mark Grant 'always on the run,' witness testifies at Candace Derksen murder retrial

A Winnipeg man who lived in Elmwood and was an acquaintance of Mark Grant's when Candace Derksen went missing testified Tuesday Grant was "always on the run."

William Crockford, 53, said he met Grant a few years before 13-year-old Candace went missing on Nov. 30, 1984. Her body was found frozen and bound with twine in an Elmwood storage shed nearly seven weeks later.

Grant, the accused, is being tried for a second time in her death.

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Crockford told court he met Grant "through a few different people." Grant was known to visit and stay at Crockford's two-bedroom bungalow on Talbot Avenue with his then-girlfriend Audrey, Crockford testified.

When asked about Candace Derksen, Crockford said, "Don't know her," adding the first time he ever saw her picture was this week on the news.

The colour of Grant's hair at the time of Candace's disappearance was at the forefront of the defence's cross-examination.

"He's got even less hair than he did then," Crockford said, pointing to Grant in the prisoner's box.

Hair found at the scene where Candace's body was discovered played a role in Grant's 2007 arrest.

In 2011, he was convicted of killing Candace Derksen, but the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned the conviction in 2013 and ordered a new trial.

Grant's hair colour debated

Crockford told court Grant's natural hair colour was dark, but he dyed it blonde and orange on different occasions.

The defence asked if Grant changed the colour of his hair when he was "on the run," as Crockford had suggested in past statements to police.

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"He was always on the run," Crockford said, adding he could not recall Grant's hair colour at the time of Candace's disappearance in 1984.

At one point, Crockford pointed at Grant in the prisoner's box and said, "If you didn't leave [Candace] for dead, I wouldn't be up here," adding it was something he heard that on the news last night.

Simmonds asked Crockford to focus on the questions and told him anything he saw on the news was not evidence.

'I love you Mark' scrawled on walls of CPR pit

A retired Winnipeg police officer who worked in the youth division and Missing Persons Unit in 1984 testified about his investigation of an inspection pit at a CPR rail yard near Bury Street, while Candace was still missing.

George Felbel told the court he entered a pit with concrete walls and dirt floors where CPR police had uncovered grocery bags, a light, a wall heater and what appeared to be a makeshift bed.

"I love you Mark" and "Mark and Audrey" were scrawled on the walls in white chalk, Felbel testified.

He left the pit and took possession of some of the items seized by CPR police, including some articles of clothing, a duffel bag with canned food, a light and two blankets, he said.​​

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He wanted to see if any items, particularly the small articles of women's clothing, may have belonged to Candace, he told court. 

During cross-examination, Felbel was asked if the items seized were ever tested for DNA or given to the Derksen family.

Felbel said he didn't believe so.

The judge-only retrial continues Wednesday. Court of Queen's Bench Justice Karen Simonsen is presiding over the trial. Brent Davidson and Michael Himmelman are acting for the Crown and Saul Simmonds is representing Grant.