The trial resumes Monday in Sault Ste. Marie’s courthouse
Police spent more than two weeks exhaustively searching for evidence in the wooded moorland where the body of Joseph Topping was found on February 14, 2018, jurors heard on Thursday on the second day of the alleged killer’s trial.
By the time the search ended on March 2, officers with two Ontario Provincial Police specialized search units, supplementing local and county investigators in Elliot Lake, had searched the area, a forensic identification services officer testified.
They cleared a large area – 100 meters by 100 meters – of the boiler and found a number of items, Const. Rodney Petroski said.
Officers also returned to the scene multiple times after March 2 when weather conditions changed.
Brad Southwind has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of a man he described as his best friend.
Topping’s body was found near a walkway behind his apartment building at 149 Mississauga Blvd., after his mother reported her 31-year-old son missing in January.
In his detailed testimony, Petroski, who now works in North Bay, outlined the role he played in the investigation.
The 23-year-old officer said he became involved after the body was discovered next to a pump near a snow dump area.
He took pictures of the scene of the accident, near the marsh, where the body was found among the reeds.
Petroski said he could see Topping’s black felt jacket with red leather sleeves, and there was a blood-like substance in the debris.
A tent with two propane heaters was placed over the deceased to melt the snow and protect any traces of evidence, he told Assistant Prosecutor Karen Pritchard.
On February 15, the body was transported to the Sault Regional Hospital for an autopsy.
At that point, police were investigating sudden death, but that changed to a possible homicide on Feb. 22 when an autopsy began, Petroski said.
Two days later, he returned to Elliott Lake to continue searching for evidence at the site where Topping’s body was found.
Officers used metal detectors because they were looking for blades, he said.
They also cleared the vegetation so they could sift through the snow and dirt.
On February 26, Petroski searched Topping’s apartment, where he noticed a package of pre-distributed drugs on the kitchen table.
It was dispensed to Topping on December 28, 2017, and three days’ worth of medication was gone, but medication for December 31 onwards was still in the package, the official said.
The next day, he uses an ultraviolet light to examine the apartment for blood. The results were negative.
Petroski said he returned to the swamp area again to find a sharp weapon “or something that gave an indication of what happened.”
Metal detectors found a Bic lighter, a pen, cigarette paper and several zip tabs.
Jurors saw photographs of Topping’s clothing taken by the officer.
Petroski then showed them the jacket, pointing out cuts on the front and back. The jacket was admitted into evidence.
Pritchard also provided the court with an agreed statement of facts showing that an OPP officer conducted surveillance on Southwind from February 26th to March 2nd.
On March 1, the officer saw South Wind leave the squad, smoke a cigarette and drop a face on the sidewalk.
The officer put up a face and he was handed over to a detective.
On March 16, a search warrant was executed at Southwind’s apartment, which was in the same building as Topping’s.
Officers conducted the search the next day and seized 10 items, including four kitchen knives, a pair of scissors, jeans and a sock with a blood-like substance on them, Petroski said.
Special equipment was searched behind pipes in the kitchen and bathroom.
Police searched for a “knife and other evidence” but “didn’t find anything,” he said.
Petroski returned to the marsh area on May 1 and there was significant snowmelt.
Working with a metal detector, he found a butter knife in the muddy water and ice.
On May 10, Petroski and 23 emergency response team members searched both sides of the walkway from the Mississauga Avenue apartment building to the pump and then to where the body was found.
Petroski said he found a black windbreaker jacket about 100 feet from where the body was.
The Crown entered this jacket into evidence at trial.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Anthony Oracietti, the officer indicated that there had been a police presence at the scene until March 2.
This was done to prevent contamination and to stop people going in and out of that area, he told Orazietti.
Petroski agreed he wasn’t sure how long the items he found in May had been there.
On Thursday, jurors also heard testimony from a DNA expert from the Forensic Science Center.
Tara Brutzky is a forensic scientist who is director of the Center’s biology department at Sault Ste. Location of Marie.
She told prosecutor David Didiodato that the center made a number of reports on items that police had sent for DNA testing.
A swab from a Bic lighter produced mixed DNA from three individuals, including at least one male.
Neither Topping nor Southwind can be ruled out, and there is strong support that both contributed to the mix, Brutzki said.
The black jacket found by Petroski had reddish-brown and brown spots.
Six samples were tested, and in some of them no DNA was found, she said.
A mixture of DNA from three people was found in one of the sleeves, and again neither Topping nor Southwind could be ruled out as collaborators.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Don Oracietti, she pointed out that the samples cannot be aged, so it cannot be determined when or how they got onto the lighter and jacket.
Brutzky agreed that two samples from the jacket had very small amounts of DNA.
Superior Court Judge Annalisa Rasaiah presided over the trial, which resumes Monday in Sault Ste. Marie’s courthouse.
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