Witness encountered suspect in Eduardo Balaquit's death day before disappearance

A witness at the trial of the man charged with killing Eduardo Balaquit described an odd encounter he had with the accused the day before Balaquit disappeared.

Derek Miles Barron worked in the parts department at Westcon Equipment and Rentals in 2018 and knew both Balaquit, who had a cleaning contract with the company, and Kyle Alexander Pietz, the man charged in his death.

Pietz has pleaded not guilty.

On Sunday, June 3, 2018 — the day before Balaquit disappeared — Barron received a phone call from a customer looking for a part. 

Barron told the jury he thought he recognized the voice on the phone as Pietz, who at this point no longer worked at Westcon. When Barron asked the caller if he was Pietz, the caller denied it. 

They made arrangements to meet at Westcon later that evening. Around 9 p.m., Pietz came through the doors. 

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Barron confronted Pietz about the phone call.

"I said, 'You called me here on a weekend,'" Barron said.

Pietz denied making the phone call, and said he had been in the area delivering pizzas when he recognized Barron's vehicle. 

After a few more minutes, Pietz left in his blue Ford Escape, Barron said.

No one else arrived to pick up the part Barron had been called about. 

Barron described Pietz as wearing a pair of cloth driving gloves. Pietz's lawyer, Amanda Sansregret, entered a pair of gloves with the fingers cut off as an exhibit in the case.

Window of Balaquit's van smashed

The jury also heard Tuesday from some of the first police officers to arrive after Balaquit's van was found the day following his disappearance.

On the second day of the trial, which is expected to take six weeks, the jury heard from Const. Christine Mazerolle.

In the morning on June 5, 2018, she and her partner received word that Balaquit's van had been found near Westcon Equipment and Rentals on Keewatin Street, where he had a long-standing contract as a cleaner and where he'd been last seen just the day before.

When they arrived, they met an employee who showed them Balaquit's van in a parking spot between two buildings on an adjacent property. The passenger window had been smashed, and multiple items were strewn on the ground.

The items included a foot-long metal pipe, a blue faucet, clear plastic bags, a cellphone charger and safety glasses.

In her opening remarks on Monday, Crown attorney Vanessa Gama said Pietz had previously worked at Westcon, where a break-in had occurred months earlier. Pietz's fingerprints had been found on a pamphlet used to jimmy the lock on the door, Gama said.

On June 4, 2018, the day of Balaquit's disappearance, Pietz had been seen driving around the Westcon building, she said. 

The Crown also called Const. Sheri Nedohin, a fingerprint expert with the police forensic identification unit, as a witness on Tuesday. 

Two fingerprints were found on the passenger-side door of Balaquit's van, she said.

Nedohin also seized a utility knife that was found on barbecue outside on the loading dock, a sticky note with the words "The building is next" written on it, and a roll of industrial plastic wrap.

The jury was shown an image of what appeared to be a handprint which Nedohin got off the plastic wrap.

Juror tests positive for COVID-19

Testimony was delayed Tuesday morning after one of the jurors tested positive for COVID-19. That juror was dismissed and Justice Sadie Bond asked all jurors to take rapid tests, which all came back negative.

The trial will proceed with 13 jurors instead of the original 14.