SAINT-JEROME, Que. — Guy Turcotte's mother has told his murder trial he repeated several times in a telephone conversation that his wife had destroyed him and that she had a new partner.
Marguerite Fournier described the call she had with Turcotte on Feb. 20, 2009, the day his two children, Olivier and Anne-Sophie, were killed.
Turcotte, 43, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the slayings, but has admitted to causing the deaths.
Fournier says Turcotte's voice in the one-hour call, which she initiated because she had not heard from him in a week, was low and muffled as though he was tipsy.
She testified the conversation was stilted, that Turcotte often changed the subject and that he repeatedly said he loved her.
Fournier says she told Turcotte to move on with his life after he announced that his then-wife, Isabelle Gaston, had slept in his bed with her new lover.
On Tuesday, a police investigator who searched Turcotte's laptop said the accused looked on the Internet for material related to suicide and methanol in the days leading up to the slayings.
Provincial police investigator Michel Dufour conducted the search, testifying the word 'suicide' did not come up prior to Feb. 15, 2009 -- the same date Turcotte's laptop was used to gain access to what was described as a discussion forum on suicide.
Dufour's examination also turned up searches on methanol -- a toxic alcohol -- and thylene glycol.
The jury has heard Turcotte arrived at the hospital the morning after the slayings with an unknown level of toxic alcohol in his bloodstream.
A container of windshield washer fluid -- which contains methanol -- was seized by police in the bathroom of the family home.