Another of Travis Vader's former love interests has testified at his ongoing murder trial, which is now in its ninth week.
Sheri Lynn Campbell confirmed under oath Tuesday morning that several text messages appearing in a binder that's a partial exhibit in this trial were exchanged between her and Vader.
In one, Vader appears to tell her he knows his associate Dave Olson was talking to police about him and is trying to get him out of the way.
"Yes i new for a long time dave has been giving them info on me so i have been giving him false info for a long time and i need to build a case against him that he did this out of hate for me and that he wanted me out of the way (sic) reads the text from Vader's phone to Campbell's.
Olson testified earlier this week that he had been romantically interested in Campbell, and that he and Vader had had an argument about it July 3, 2010, at Olson's house in Peers, Alta., in which Vader had hit him.
Vader is accused of murdering St. Albert couple Lyle and Marie McCann, who were last seen on surveillance footage from a St. Albert gas station on July 3, 2010.
Vader's alibi for that day has been an issue in this trial, as has Olson's motivation for testifying. Olson said it was "the right thing to do" but defence lawyer Brian Beresh has suggested he testified for financial gain and because Vader was apparently unhappy with Olson "stalking" Campbell.
Campbell also testified that Vader had come to visit her at the house in Edmonton where she was staying on July 1, 2010, driving a truck with a tidy tank in the back. Other witness have described in more detail a Ford F-350 with a tidy tank Vader was driving in early July, which had been stolen and was found partially burned two weeks later.
She said Vader had sent her a text saying he was coming to the city and she invited him over. When he arrived the two went upstairs to a bedroom.
"We sat and chit-chatted for a moment or two, then layed down and went to sleep," she said.
She said she woke up at 10 a.m., and Vader woke up "a couple hours later," but under cross-examination and re-examination she was unclear on when he had left, or whether she had even been at the house when he left.
In the following days the two exchanged texts, many with a romantic theme. She said she got a phone call from him July 10 from an unknown number saying he needed help and was in Lodgepole, Alta.
On Monday, Don Bulmer testified he had picked Vader up in Lodgepole and then saw him unload electronics from a truck minutes before it was set alight.
She also confirmed she received texts signed by "T," a handle the Crown has suggested Vader used in texts but that Beresh has suggested he never used.
Campbell also testified that Vader didn't appear to be having money problems in early July, 2010, but acknowledged a text message she sent referring to Vader getting her "da goods" and her being ready to "hustle" and "get us some serious green" may have referred to drugs.
She said she had used meth with Vader prior to July, but didn't use when they met on July 1.
Monday afternoon
Defence lawyer Brian Beresh's cross-examination of Vader's former roommate Don Bulmer took most of the afternoon.
He suggested that Vader never referred to himself as "T," raised questions as to which vehicles Vader had been driving, who may have had access to Bulmer's house in the weeks leading up to Vader's arrest there and a subsequent search, and whether Vader had any firearms on the property.
He suggested Bulmer had actually not personally seen Vader burn the truck near Lodgepole.
Beresh also suggested a phone Vader's ex girlfriend Amber Williams said she took from the house, which an RCMP analyst later determined to be the McCanns' may in fact have belonged to alternate suspect Terry McColman and not Vader.
A Hyundai parts technician, Shelly Graham, also briefly gave testimony.
She said she had provided RCMP with a spare key to the McCanns' missing SUV – the keys for which police have testified they found in the back of the partially burned F-350 – and that a set of Hyundai keys and the key fob are programmed to work with one vehicle and only that vehicle.
Justice Denny Thomas also cautioned Vader, who returned 15 minutes late after the lunch break, that if it happened again he would have to sit in the prisoner's box during the trial and take his breaks in the sheriffs' custody. Vader has been late for court several times already.
