Lawyer for accused in Candace Derksen killing argues later kidnapping was 'strikingly similar'

The kidnapping of a 12-year-old girl nine months after Candace Derksen's body was found had "strikingly similar" characteristics, a defence lawyer argued in court on Tuesday.

Mark Edward Grant's defence lawyer, Saul Simmonds, pointed to similarities in the cases such as the day the girls went missing and how their hands and feet were bound. Simmonds argued the evidence from the second kidnapping, which happened while Grant was in police custody, may point to a different suspect.

Simmonds was questioning retired sergeant Ronald Allan, the only witness to speak on Day 2 of the retrial for the killing of Derksen. Allan was an investigator responsible for removing Candace's body and was the principal photographer at the crime scene.

Allan also responded to the scene of a kidnapping weeks after Derksen's body was found. 

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Derksen went missing on her way home from school Nov. 30, 1984, and her frozen body was found nearly seven weeks later, on Jan. 17, 1985, tied up inside a shed at an industrial yard in Elmwood by employees.

In September of 1985, nine months after Derksen was found, a 12-year-old girl was found alive inside a boxcar, her wrists tied with the same style of knot as Candace's wrists, according to evidence presented to the judge at the first trial.

A Wrigley's blue gum wrapper was also found at both scenes, according to the evidence presented.

DNA evidence played a central role in Grant's arrest in 2007. A jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in 2011.

Two years later, a Manitoba Court of Appeal judge ordered a retrial because evidence about the reported September 1985 kidnapping was wrongly withheld from jurors in the first trial.

The new judge-only trial began on Monday.

All questions regarding the other kidnapping took place during a voir dire, a preliminary examination within the trial by the judge, because the defence made an application to hear third-party suspect evidence. It will be up to the judge to decide whether the evidence will be admissible in the trial.

Allan testified that when he attended the scene of the other kidnapping, "there were some similarities." The defence presented a police report Allan wrote in 1985 about the second scene which said it maybe be "the best lead" police had.

However, when the Crown had a chance to rebut they highlighted inconsistencies between the Derksen killing and the other kidnapping. The Crown said only two fingerprints were found at the boxcar scene, both belonging to the alleged victim.

Allan told the court there was nothing found at the boxcar scene to directly link it to the Derksen case.

Police used paper bags to try to preserve evidence

Earlier in the trial on Tuesday, Allan told the court that police officers placed paper bags on Candace Derksen's hands, feet and head to try to preserve evidence when they found the 13-year-old's body 32 years ago.

Back then, Allan acknowledged, police didn't have any DNA protocols and knew "very little" about the new forensic tool.

Simmonds continued to raise questions about whether officers may have inadvertently contaminated the crime scene.

He argued that Allan and his fellow officers could have accidentally deposited DNA evidence at the crime scene, whether through a runny nose, cough or a sneeze.

"You're in the shed for a lengthy period of time, unprotected, moving around the body," Simmonds said during his cross-examination of Allan.

Simmonds also pointed to an Old Dutch potato chip bag seen in several photos at the scene and how it appeared to change locations between photos, suggesting police may have altered or moved items at the scene.

"I'm not suggesting anything nefarious," Simmonds said. "I just invite you to compare [the photos]."

Allan told the court "it does appear to have moved," but he testified that he did not move the exhibits or observe anyone who did.

When asked Monday, officers had testified they were not asked to provide DNA samples. Allan also testified he did not provide DNA samples.

Simulating the bindings

The retired sergeant also described some of the other items found in the shed where Candace's body was discovered, including two large tree stumps, an Esso can and a bag containing some of the teen's belongings.

More than a week after the grim discovery of Candace's body, officers tried to learn more about the girl's time in the shed by simulating the bindings, Allan said.

He described tying up his fellow officer with twine in a similar fashion to how the teen was found. Candace was discovered frozen to death, her hands and feet bound with twine.

"We wanted to determine how much mobility he had at the time. That was the sole purpose," he said, adding the officer could not break free.

The court is scheduled to hear from three witnesses on Wednesday:

• Robert Parker, a retired police investigator and an identification expert who examined the scene where Derksen's body was found.
• Don Ogilvie, a retired RCMP officer who was with the hair and fibre unit in 1985. He was responsible for processing some of the evidence gathered, including Derksen's jacket, jeans and the twine she was tied up with.
• Robert Chisnall is a knot analyst who will speak about the bindings found on Derksen.

On mobile? Read our live blog of the retrial here.