Starting evidence was heard Monday in a St. Thomas, Ont. courtroom from the ex-girlfriend of a man on trial for first degree murder.
The woman — who cannot be identified — told the jury about an admission made to her by the accused, Chad Reu-Waters, 48, surrounding the death of a Mississauga man who was found in a freezer years after he vanished.
Testifying from a separate room she told the court while out on a drive with the accused in his Corvette in 2018, “He told me he had ties to Hells Angels and the mob.”
She continued, “I said ‘Have you ever killed anyone?’ He told me ‘Yes,’ he had killed for money…and he told me that he killed Ashley Pereira.”
She testified that Reu-Waters had told her how “He tied a wire cord around his neck and he watched him stop breathing…and he put him in a freezer.”
The court has heard that the 33-year-old Pereira had been missing since 2002. His body was eventually found in a freezer along a cliff near Port Burwell, Ont. in May 2019.
Reu-Waters, has pleaded not guilty to first degree murder and committing an indignity to a body.
Later during her testimony, the woman said over time she became upset with Reu-Waters and was terrified of him. She said in March 2019, the relationship ended just weeks before he was arrested and charged.
She also told the jury that they talked about the death of Pereira several times and she was worried about being implicated.
She said, “I [Reu-Waters] told me if I ever told anyone he would put my DNA in the freezer.”
The woman told the court she stayed in the relationship longer than she wanted because, “I was too afraid, I didn’t want to lose my daughter and I didn’t want to go down for a murder I didn’t do.”
The Crown is nearing the end of its case, which will continue on Tuesday.