James Carlson disappeared a month before he was expected to testify at a drug hearing for his accused killer, Taylor James Wolff.
Wolff’s preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 2008; he was charged with possessing drugs intended to be sold to Carlson. The charge was laid after Carlson gave a statement to police, according to agreed facts presented in court.
The farm equipment mechanic was last seen on May 14, 2008. His body has never been found, but RCMP have said evidence discovered during an initial search of his home proved he was killed. Wolff was charged with second-degree murder eight years later, on June 17, 2016.
His trial began Monday at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench. Crime scene investigators and a blood stain expert detailed the evidence discovered in Carlson’s Watrous, Sask. home on May 20, 2008 — a day after his truck and work tools were found in a field near Allan, Sask.
Dean Hamm, a retired RCMP blood stain analyst, testified the pattern of blood in Carlson’s house suggests he started bleeding in the living room and fell to the floor, where a significant amount of blood seeped into the carpet, before moving or being moved to the kitchen.
Two types of cleaning solutions in the kitchen suggest a cleanup took place, officers said.
Bullet fragments were found in the carpet and lodged in a wall. Bruce Gunn, a retired RCMP firearms specialist, said it was impossible to tell if the two bullets were fired from the same gun because their individual characteristics were obscured.
Multiple swabs from the blood stains, cigarette butts and bullets were sent for DNA testing. The results have not yet been presented at Wolff’s trial, which is scheduled to last two weeks.
However, Cpl. Candace Ochitwa, an RCMP forensic identification officer, said no fingerprints found in Carlson’s house matched Wolff’s. No blood was found around the bullet holes, Hamm testified under cross-examination.
Wolff is out of custody during his trial; he was released on a $20,000 recognizance shortly after his arrest.