Thomas Ted Barrett 'strangled' Brett MacKinnon, witness told police
CBC News | Posted: January 19, 2016 3:20 PM | Last Updated: January 19, 2016
In videotaped statement to police, Sheryl Flynn said Barrett confessed to 'adrenaline rush' in killing
A witness told police that Thomas Ted Barrett confessed he strangled to death Brett Elizabeth MacKinnon, according to a videotaped statement played Tuesday at Barrett's second-degree murder trial in Sydney.
The Glace Bay man is being tried by judge alone in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. He is accused of killing MacKinnon, a 21-year-old woman last seen in 2006 and whose remains were found two years later.
During the second day of trial, the court was played a video of a statement given to police by Sheryl Flynn in November 2012. Flynn subsequently died of an accidental drug overdose.
On the tape, Flynn told police that she met Barrett, 40, in 2005. She said she used to pick him up at his house and drive him to Tim Hortons in Glace Bay.
'I strangled her'
In the parking lot of the coffee shop in 2009, she said Barrett told her he killed MacKinnon, a statement that "came out of the blue."
"He told me, 'I don't know why, but I get an adrenaline rush; I strangled her,'" Flynn told police.
Flynn said she was in shock. She said Barrett talked, but she remained silent because she "didn't want to be another Brett."
She called Barrett a "very dangerous man and very, very sick." In her statement, Flynn told police to "get him for what he did" and "justice must be served."
Undetermined cause of death
Earlier on Tuesday, court heard from the medical examiner, Dr. Marnie Wood. She analyzed the victim's remains but could not determine how she died.
She said MacKinnon's bones had no fractures and the skull was intact with no injuries. She said there was no evidence of a broken neck or of MacKinnon being struck.
She ruled the death a homicide based on the crime scene.
The CBC's Yvonne LeBlanc-Smith live blogged from the courtroom. (Warning: Some details are graphic)
Two weeks have been set aside for the trial.
Barrett will also be tried in the fall in the death of 21-year-old Laura Jessome.