The jury will not hear from Kyllan Ellis, who is on trial for the second-degree murder of Simone Sanderson.
His lawyer, Mike Cook, did not call any witnesses once the crown finished presenting its case on Wednesday, and plans to present his defence Monday during closing arguments.
There is no physical evidence connecting Ellis to Sanderson, whose body was found under a piece of cardboard in an empty lot at Main Street and Burrows Avenue on Sept. 2, 2012. He came onto police radar through an anonymous Crime stoppers tip in 2014. It was revealed in court that tip was made by his mother's former boyfriend.
Police eventually put listening devices in his father's home, his mother's home and in Ellis's car. The jury heard a recording taken in April 2016, from his mother's living room, in which she can be heard saying, "I know what you did," to her son. Ellis was arrested shortly after.
No DNA match
Police took his DNA, however it did not match any of the 43 pieces of evidence gathered from where Sanderson's body was discovered. His fingerprints were not found on any of those objects, including a knife.
The autopsy revealed she died of blunt and sharp force trauma. Sanderson had cuts on both of her palms, which the pathologist called defensive wounds. She also had a broken jaw, vertebrae in the neck and hyoid bone, which is in the front of the neck.
"[A] bone that is often fractured when force is applied to the exterior of the neck, strangulation," said Dr. Charles Littman, who conducted the autopsy.
Littman said the body was too decomposed to determine what kind of force cause those injuries.
A knife was found near Sanderson's body and it had only her DNA on it. The lead forensic investigator testified that the same brand of knife was found in Ellis' mother's house, but was not seized as evidence when a search warrant was executed after his arrest.
The accused
Kyllan Ellis was born Oct 29, 1987 to John and Carol Ellis, who both testified at their son's trial.
It was through their testimony the jury heard Ellis has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has experienced hallucinations as a result.
"Stories, wild stories, seeing things, making up, just not on the same realm as the rest of us at times," said John Ellis.
John said his son was prescribed medication, but he didn't know if Ellis was taking it.
He told the court his son was a regular boy growing up who enjoyed fishing, skateboarding and video games. He said Ellis dropped out of high school in Lorette and got his GED before taking a small engine repair course in Winnipeg.
John said Ellis worked a number of jobs including: A&W, fencing, tree cutting and most recently, airport security.
The accused was living with his father in Lorette when he was arrested. John testified it was in his living room where Ellis said to him: "I think I may have killed someone."
The Victim
She was wearing a pink skort, a black top and flip flops and was the subject of a missing person's investigation until her body was found a week later.
Dr. Gail Anderson, a forensic entomologist, testified that by studying the maggots found on Sanderson's body, she believed the 23-year-old was dead by sunrise on August 27.
His mother testified that he called her for a ride, saying he had lost his keys. She said she picked him up around Redwood and Main and drove him to Lorette to get his spare set.
She said it was on the drive back to Winnipeg he told her he choked a girl.
"He told me that he picked a girl up … she identified herself as a prostitute, she said they could go to a place she knew of to have some fun," said Carol. "She stole his keys, apparently threw the keys."
Carol said her son told her he was then jumped by a man, got into a struggle with him and eventually the woman as well.
A person who lives near the lost where Sanderson's body was found testified she saw a man standing in front of a car, looking for something in the empty lot, at around 1:30 a.m. in late August looking for something.
Gail Oakley testified couldn't remember what day, but said it was before she went out of town for September long weekend. She told the jury the she thought the man she was was Indigenous. Ellis is not.
Justice Chris Martin told the five woman, seven man jury he could give them instructions to begin deliberations as soon as Tuesday.