RCMP forensic expert testifies at Tylor McInnis murder trial
First officers on the scene found victim's body in trunk of car in North Preston cemetery
An RCMP forensic investigator testified Monday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court that he had to call in the fire department with the Jaws of Life to slice open the floor of a stolen car in the search for bullet fragments in the killing of Tylor McInnis.
Cpl. Martin McKenna was testifying at the trial of two men charged in the killing of McInnis, 26, whose body was found in the trunk of the car in a cemetery in North Preston, N.S., in August, 2016
Shawntez Neco Downey is charged with first-degree murder. His younger brother, Daniel Romeo Downey, is charged with robbery and being an accessory.
McKenna was called to the cemetery after the first officers on the scene found a black Honda Civic and discovered McInnis's body in the trunk.
McKenna told the jury of seven men and seven women that he searched the cemetery before the car — with McInnis's body still inside — was loaded aboard a flat-bed tow truck and taken to a secure garage at RCMP headquarters in Dartmouth.
McKenna photographed the car, both in the graveyard and after it was moved.
He also photographed the autopsy that was performed on McInnis.
McKenna said he found holes in the floor of the vehicle and fragments of bullets, which prompted him to return to the cemetery to search for more bullet fragments.
He also participated in the search in early September 2016 of a field in North Preston.
He said when McInnis was removed from the car, he was only wearing one shoe. McKenna testified that a shoe of an identical size and model was recovered during the search of the field.
McKenna is the seventh witness to testify at this murder trial, which is scheduled to run for 20 days.
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