Beairsto strangled before stabbing: pathologist

Chrystal Beairsto was strangled and might have been unconscious when she was stabbed to death in Charlottetown in the summer of 2002, the pathologist who performed the autopsy told court on Thursday.

Dr. Rosemary Henderson testified before Justice Wayne Cheverie at the trial of John Rayner, who is charged with first-degree murder.

Answering questions from Crown attorney Terri MacPherson, Henderson told the court that the 23-year-old Beairsto was stabbed with a single-edged knife. Three deep wounds punctured her liver and lungs. There were also several smaller wounds.

Beairstobled to death from her injuries, Henderson said.

Henderson also found that Beairsto had been strangled, and may have beenunconscious before she was stabbed. She said Beairsto's wrists were bound so tightly behind her back it left her hands a deep blue.

The knife used in the killing hadan irregular blade about 70 millimetres long, she said. When she extended a box-cutter knife similar to the one Rayner used at work, it wouldn't extend quite that far, but Henderson saidone like it could have been used to kill Chrystal Beairsto.

When challenged by defence lawyer Chris Manning, the doctor agreed the wounds could have been made by any narrow blade.

No sign of rape

Beairsto was found face down in a wooded area near the Confederation Trail on July 28, 2002. The autopsy concluded that after she died, she lay on her back for a while, then was turned over. The autopsy didn't conclude whether she was moved from somewhere else, or turned over where she was found.

Although she was found naked from the waist down, the autopsy found no sign that she'd been sexually assaulted.

Throughout this trial, police have said Rayner became their prime suspect when the crime lab matched his DNA to the cord used to tie Beairsto's hands behind her back.

On Friday, the expert who examined the DNA evidence will testify about what he found, and what he thinks the odds are that John Rayner is the killer.