The RCMP tried a different, more sympathetic approach when they interviewed accused killer Travis Vader after charges against him for the killing of an elderly St. Albert couple were re-commenced.

However, the RCMP officer who did the interview admitted Thursday that he was not being genuine and it was simply a planned strategy to try and elicit some incriminating evidence against Vader.

When asked by Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson if it was accurate when he told Vader in the December 2014 interview that he believed he had been “screwed over” by police at the time of his initial arrest, Sgt. Michael McCauley replied: “No, it wasn’t.”

During a lengthy interview over two days, McCauley told Vader he believed his claims of innocence and accepted that the investigation had many problems, but in testimony, he said it was simply a ruse to get Vader talking.

And while Vader did plenty of talking, including lots of complaining about being mistreated by the Mounties and criticizing the investigation, he maintained that he knew nothing about the 2010 disappearance of Lyle McCann, 78, and his wife Marie, 77, and denied driving the couple’s SUV or using their cellphone.

Warning: Video contains graphic language

   

       

       

           

Travis Vader interview

       

       

   

In the Crown’s opening statement at Vader’s first-degree murder trial, prosecutor Jim Stewart said Vader’s “provable lies” are post-offence conduct “indicative of his guilt.”

Court has heard during the trial that police found Vader’s DNA, blood and fingerprints in the McCanns’ SUV and a witness testified he saw Vader, 44, driving an SUV that looked like the one belonging to the couple after they had gone missing.

As well, a former girlfriend of Vader’s testified she received several texts from him on a number she didn’t recognize. Court has heard that phone records show the number belonged to the McCanns.

Vader was first charged with the killings in April 2012, but the charges were stayed on March 19, 2014. The charges were then re-laid on Dec. 19, 2014.

The McCanns were last seen July 3, 2010, leaving a Superstore in St. Albert.

Two days later, their motorhome was found ablaze and abandoned at a campground by Minnow Lake, near Edson.

The Hyundai SUV they were towing was found in the woods on a rural property just off of Highway 16 east of Edson on July 16, 2010.

The trial has heard police found blood spatter from the McCanns on items in the SUV.

Court has also heard Vader’s DNA was identified on a beer can found in the 2006 Hyundai Tucson SUV, on the steering wheel, on the front passenger seat and on the centre console.