Masked men killed Taylor Samson, says William Sandeson in video played for jury
Sandeson told police 2 stories under questioning, including one in which Samson was killed by intruders
The jury in the first-degree murder trial of William Sandeson in Halifax has now heard two very different versions of what happened to Taylor Samson in August 2015.
Both versions came from Sandeson himself, who's charged in the death of the university student. Samson's body has not been recovered.
The two accounts are contained in videotaped police interrogations, both of which have been played for the seven-man, seven-woman jury hearing the case in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
Intruder story
In the latest version, Sandeson tells a police interrogator that two men were in his apartment the night Samson came over to do a drug deal.
Sandeson says they had gotten in through his roommate's bedroom and they confronted Samson, who was sitting on a kitchen chair.
Sandeson tells the officer he thought the two men only intended to scare Samson. He said they were wearing full body costumes that obscured their faces.
At one point, Sandeson says the men told him to go into the bedroom and turn off his home security system.
"There was a gunshot," Sandeson tells the police officer. "I didn't see what happened. There was a lot of blood."
When he looked in the kitchen, Sandeson says he saw the two men stuffing Samson's body into a large duffel bag. Samson had earlier used that bag to bring nine kilograms of marijuana to the apartment.
Sandeson says the two men left with the duffel bag carrying the body and the drugs. He tells the police officer he didn't see which way they went and he didn't follow them.
Instead, he started cleaning up the mess.
Long, emotional interrogation
This version of what happened to Samson came after a long, and at times, tortuous interrogation that lasted for more than six hours.
Sandeson is shown on the video sitting in a cramped interview room at police headquarters. The interrogating officer sits just inches from his face.
For most of the interrogation, Sandeson follows the advice from a duty legal aid lawyer and says nothing.
He begins sobbing as the police officer keeps up his quiet but relentless questioning. The sobs get louder and his breathing becomes ragged as the questioning goes on.
At one point, Sandeson appears to be hyperventilating and tells the officer he needs to lie down. When he eventually starts speaking, it comes in fits and is punctuated by loud sobs.
The officer doing most of the questioning expresses skepticism about Sandeson's version of events that night.
Stark contrast to previous statement
Sandeson's description of a two masked men is in stark contrast to his first statement to police made the day before.
In that video statement, Sandeson says Samson never showed up that night. He produces text messages he sent to Samson's phone to support that story.
But the police later use those texts to challenge Sandeson, saying they appear to have been sent to help cover his tracks.
The police also share evidence with Sandeson that they'd already collected from his apartment, including an image from his own security system. That image shows Samson, with the large duffel bag, arriving at the apartment.
The police also show photographs of what appears to be blood stains in the apartment kitchen and bathroom, and a duffel bag full of blood-stained cash.
"You've got a bag of blood-covered money in your bedroom," the officer says to Sandeson at one point.
The video ends with the officer informing Sandeson he's to be charged with murder.
Blair Rhodes live blogged from court.