EDMONTON — An RCMP officer has testified that car keys found in a pickup truck allegedly stolen by Travis Vader fit the SUV that Lyle and Marie McCann had been towing behind their motorhome.
Sgt. Grant Goulet testified Tuesday that he found the key while searching the truck and because it was a Hyundai key, he immediately thought to go to K-Division where the McCann vehicle was being kept.
He said the key fit in the door lock and when he put it in the ignition, it powered up the dash lights on the vehicle.
Vader, 44, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the couple in their 70s, who vanished in the summer of 2010 after leaving their home in St. Albert bound for Abbotsford, B.C.
Their RV was found on fire near Minnow Lake west of Edmonton while the SUV was found on a nearby rural property about a week later.
Their bodies have never been found.
Under cross-examination, Goulet admitted to defence lawyer Brian Beresh that the vehicle had been uncovered and not in police custody for several days before the key was found.
Another officer testified the key was not found a month earlier, when the truck was found east of Edson on oilfield lease land.
The truck was sent to an Edson towing company yard, and an Edmonton salvage compound between its discovery and when the key was found.