Defence witness in Travis Vader murder trial testifies she saw Marie McCann alive

Tony Blais

A defence witness for Travis Vader says she saw alleged victim Marie McCann at a campground on the day after the senior and her husband were supposedly killed.

Testifying Thursday at Vader’s first-degree murder trial, Debbie Foisy told court she was at the Minnow Lake campground near Edson for an anniversary get-together on July 4, 2010, when she saw a motorhome being driven "very fast" pull in to a site.

After being shown a photo of Marie McCann by defence lawyer Brian Beresh, the Wildwood-area woman said that was the person she saw walking around the motorhome and unhooking a silverish SUV between 3:30 and 5 p.m.

However, in cross examination, Foisy admitted she did not get a good look at the woman’s face.

"I did not recognize her face, but I believed it to be her," said Foisy, adding the woman she saw was wearing a visor that covered the top of her face. "I did not see her up close."

Foisy testified there was also a man with the motorhome, but said she didn’t get a good look at him as he was further away and under the awning.

Foisy also told court she was watching a group of seven children at the time and said her group was preparing dinner.

Thursday marked the beginning of the defence case in the trial as the Crown closed the prosecution’s case.

Vader, 44, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Lyle McCann, 78, and Marie McCann, 77, and the Crown alleges they were killed on July 3, 2010. The couple was last seen on that day leaving a Superstore in St. Albert.

Two days later, their motorhome was found ablaze and abandoned at the Minnow Lake campground. The Hyundai SUV they were towing was found July 16, 2010, in the woods on a rural property just off of Highway 16 east of Edson.

The trial has heard police found Vader’s DNA, blood and fingerprints in the SUV as well as blood spatter from the McCanns. Their bodies have not been found.

A Crown witness who was a former drug buddy of Vader’s testified earlier that the accused killer showed up at his Peers home in a light green SUV that looked like the one belonging to the McCanns on the afternoon of July 3, 2010.

David Olson, who is known as Bandana Dave and is under RCMP protection, told court he used to frequently smoke crystal methamphetamine with Vader and said Vader was in an "extremely agitated" state when he showed up that day.

Under cross-examination, Olson admitted the RCMP paid him $24,000, saying the money went toward relocation, food and lodging.

Olson was later asked by the Crown why he came to court to testify.

"Because it was the right thing to do," Olson said. "They could have been anybody’s grandparents."

Meanwhile on Thursday, Edmonton city police said they found Vader around 8 p.m. Tuesday at a west-end industrial park allegedly in the midst of a copper wire and truck theft. He was captured on foot near a Winterburn area trailer park after RCMP contacted city police to help arrest Vader for breaching conditions of his release.

Vader was being sought after allegedly failing a drug test and contacting a witness in the trial. According to court documents, the drug test was done on May 5 and it came back positive for methamphetamine. The alleged contact with Donald Bulmer, who used to live with Vader and was one of the Crown’s last witnesses, is to have occurred between March 12 and April 17.

Vader reserved election on the breach of charges and the matter was adjourned to May 18. Bail was not addressed.

Vader has now also been charged with break and enter to commit theft and possession of stolen property under $5,000.

With files from Paige Parsons