Hikoalok murder trial: Jury hears first forensic evidence on bloodstains found at crime scene

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Warning: Some details of this story may be disturbing to readers.

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The jury in Tyler Hikoalok’s first-degree murder trial heard its first forensic evidence on Tuesday, as Crown prosecutors are expected to focus this week on DNA linking Hikoalok to the May 24 murder. 2018 from Church Librarian Elisabeth Salm.

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Ottawa Police Sgt. Violeta Dimova testified as an expert in bloodstain pattern analysis Tuesday when the jury was shown crime scene photos inside a study room at the Christian Science Reading Room at 141 Laurier Ave.

Salm was found by a coworker hours after she was severely beaten and sexually assaulted inside study hall and rushed to hospital, where she died the next day.

Hikoalok has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in a slaying prosecutors described as a “vicious and brutal attack.”

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Dimova told the court that she arrived on the morning of May 25 and reviewed crime scene photos with Det. Tim Nolan, the identification officer assigned to the case, who provided background information. Nolan told Dimova that the victim was not expected to survive.

Nolan previously testified that he had collected evidence from the scene and visited Salm in the hospital, where a sexual assault investigation team took samples from his body and sent them to the Forensic Science Center for analysis.

The Crown is expected to call forensic scientists who will testify that Hikoalok “could not be excluded as a match to the semen and male profile identified on the victim’s body.”

No other DNA profile was found on Salm’s body.

Assistant Crown Counsel Brian Holowka and Lisa Miles told the jury that a bracelet and shoe Hikoalok was wearing at the time of his arrest would also yield a likely DNA match to traces of Salm’s blood.

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On Tuesday, Dimova told the court that she began her analysis of blood spatter on the carpeted floor of the study room, the “most fragile and easily contaminated” area of ​​the crime scene, where the most obvious starting point and significant was a floor of 50 by 60 cm. saturation staining.

Dimova took swabs from the floor and from dozens of surrounding “splash” spots, which were circular in shape to indicate droplets and elliptical in shape to indicate the “directional movement” of blood, the coroner testified.

Crime scene photos show a large red stain on the floor and blood splattered on a nearby bookcase and wall, on a table and on two chairs in the room.

Dimova said she counted more than 45 stains on the wall, which showed signs of directional movement away from the large stain on the floor. There were dozens of blood splatter stains on the legs and underside of a table, and more blood on magazines scattered on top.

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Samples were collected and sent for analysis at the CFS, Dimova said, and were found to be compatible with Salm.

Dimova is expected to continue Wednesday with her analysis of a blood smear found on the door handle of the hallway leading from the study room to the lobby of the Gillin Building.

The Hikoalok trial heard testimony last week from detectives who analyzed security video showing a figure entering the building at 9:14 a.m. on the day of the murder and exiting through a separate parking lot exit at 10:21 a.m. A.M

Two police officers identified Hikoalok from a still image taken from the video and he was arrested on May 27.

The arresting officer testified last week that Hikoalok said during the arrest that he had been “drunk to blackout a couple of days ago… I didn’t know he killed anyone,” according to Const’s testimony. Steve Luchies.

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There was nothing unusual about Hikoalok’s behavior or behavior, according to the testimony of his teacher, the school principal and a youth counselor, and did not appear to be intoxicated when he reported to the Debbie Campbell Academy of Learning on Albert Street around 11 a.m. on the day of the murder.

His former teacher, Tracy Ludmer, told the court that she had taught Hikoalok for years at the alternative school and that his behavior was “business as usual” when she visited his classroom that morning.

Hikoalok had left the school after turning 18 in January 2018, but Ludmer said he still came two or three times a week and had also visited the day before.

Youth counselor Ron Destiné said he interacted with Hikoalok on May 24 and recalled Hikoalok telling him that he had been in a recording studio making music the night before.

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“I didn’t notice any (signs of intoxication),” the counselor told the court.

School principal Ashley Potter testified that she saw “nothing out of the ordinary” when she greeted Hikoalok in a classroom around 11 a.m. her favorite lunch.

Hikoalok stayed and had lunch, as he regularly did with the show, and thanked the staff before starting the day, Potter said.

“He came over to say thanks, and I jokingly told him to put his plate in the dishwasher,” Potter said. “He thanked Me again and left.”

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