Travis Vader’s DNA, fingerprint on beer can found in slain St. Albert couple's SUV: RCMP

Ryan Cormier reports from the courthouse.

RCMP investigators found Travis Vader’s DNA and fingerprint on a beer can discovered in the cupholder of Lyle and Marie McCann’s SUV, court documents released Monday indicate.

The unproven evidence was contained in an RCMP officer’s notes and documents collected during the sprawling four-year murder investigation and later submitted to court.

"Compared fingerprint impression developed on beer can found in the Tucson to Vader’s right middle finger," states a July 2010 document labelled Vader File Things To Do. "Fingerprint individualized and verified."

The fingerprint was on a Boxer beer can found in the SUV’s centre cupholder, according to the same document.

Other RCMP materials state that Vader’s DNA was also found on the can. "Boxer Beer," the handwritten note reads, "one at site w/ Vader DNA, one no DNA."

Lyle McCann, 78, and his wife, Marie, 77, were last seen on the morning of July 3, 2010, buying gas at a St. Albert Superstore. Two days later, their burning motorhome was found near a campground southeast of Edson. The Hyundai Tucson SUV towed behind their motorhome was later discovered abandoned.

Their bodies have never been found.

Vader, 44, faces two charges of murder in the case and has always been the RCMP’s main suspect.

Previously, court documents revealed that the RCMP paid an in-custody informant for information in the case. The newly released documents indicate that inmate was paid $22,000 and asked for more money to tell investigators "where the body was."

The court documents also indicate that a witness told RCMP investigators Vader was inside the McCanns’ motorhome before it was burned. That witness claimed Vader took a "gold ruby ring" out of the motorhome and kept it inside a cabin near his father’s place.

"There is a lot more stuff in there," the witness said of the cabin.

In December, a separate release of documents showed for the first time that items from the SUV tied Vader to the investigation. Those documents also revealed the evidence that led police to declare the McCanns dead while their bodies remain undiscovered.

"Items in the SUV are consistent with trauma to the McCanns, including the blood of Marie McCann and Lyle McCann’s hat with a bullet hole in it," states a case summary prepared for a 2013 pre-trial conference.

Investigators also believe Vader used the McCanns’ cellphone to send text messages at 2 p.m. on July 3, the day they disappeared. Vader ran out of minutes on his own phone, became angry and used the McCanns’ phone, documents allege.

The prosecution’s case depends on "circumstantial evidence, motive and exclusive opportunity, forensic evidence and post-offence conduct evidence," according to the case summary.

In 2011, several undercover RCMP officers approached Vader’s sister, Bobbi Jo, who saw her brother in the days after the McCanns disappeared. The undercover officers recruited the "very motivated" Bobbi Jo Vader for odd jobs to gain her trust.

While on a train to Winnipeg with two undercover officers, Vader’s sister made incriminating statements about him.

"She said she believed that Travis was involved in the murders and she saw guns wrapped up in blankets that could have come from the McCanns’ motor home," according to prosecution documents.

Lyle McCann owned guns, but family members couldn’t say whether he had them with him in the motorhome on his road trip.

Vader is scheduled to go to trial in March. His previously scheduled trial was derailed on March 29, 2014, when prosecutors stayed the murder charges because RCMP investigators failed to provide disclosure in the case. In late 2014, prosecutors lifted the stay and Vader faced the murder charges once more. 

Vader’s lawyer, Brian Beresh, has said the stay was only to buy the investigation more time to collect evidence. In an ongoing abuse-of-process hearing, Beresh is arguing the prosecution should be halted because of the two-year delay caused by the prosecution and RCMP.

The prosecution filed a direct indictment in the case, which means a judge has never examined the evidence against Vader in a preliminary inquiry.

None of the accusations in the documents have been proven in court.

rcormier@postmedia.com

twitter.com/el_cormier