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  Travis Vader's five-week murder trial wrapped up the second week of testimony on Friday.

  BRYAN YOUNG/St. Albert Gazette

Defence lawyer Brian Beresh has raised more questions about how RCMP handled the three scenes associated with Lyle and Marie McCann's burned motorhome.

The tow-truck driver who hauled away the wreckage testified Thursday afternoon at the murder trial of Travis Vader, accused of killing the St. Albert couple who disappeared in July 2010.

Lloyd Alan Bauman was working for Superior Towing in Edson on July 5 when he was called to clean up the scene of a burned motorhome at the Minnow Lake Campground near Peers, Alta.

"I went out there that evening to look at it, and the next day we made arrangements to have it moved and towed away," he told Crown prosecutor Jim Stewart.

He explained the next day he pulled it out of the forested area where it was found, removed any loose debris for safety reasons and loaded that into a gravel truck with a bobcat, and used a bobcat to bend down parts of the frame and clean up the scene.

The motorhome frame itself was taken to the Superior Towing yard in Edson, while the gravel truck unloaded the debris at the Edson dump.

Stuart focused on the hitch, which would have been used to tow the McCanns' SUV behind the motorhome, and Bauman said he saw the receiver on the motorhome, but not the hitch itself or the tow bar.

Beresh questioned Bauman about whether there was an RCMP member present during any of this process, and Bauman confirmed there wasn't.

He met with an RCMP officer, who Beresh suggested was an officer McNeil but Bauman couldn't confirm, on the way into the site – but the officer didn't return when Bauman looked at the site July 5, or when he returned to clean up the motorhome on July 6.

He confirmed the area wasn't blocked off with crime tape, and the RCMP did not supervise the removal, transport, or deposit of either the motorhome frame or the material in the gravel truck.

"Not to my knowledge," Bauman said.

Beresh then entered another binder full of hundreds of photographs into evidence as Exhibit 12, but not without an objection from Stuart, who said Beresh had been asked to participate in the creation of the initial photo book known as Exhibit 1 but had refused. Justice Denny Thomas allowed the exhibit.

Several of the photographs showed pieces of material left at the scene of the fire after the motorhome had been removed.

Earlier that afternoon, Beresh cross-examined provincial fire inspector Jeremy Wagner, who had conducted an investigation of the scene July 12 in conjunction with another inspector, Oed Gunderson, and his dog trained to detect liquid hydrocarbons on a scene, sometimes called accelerants.

Wagner agreed with Beresh that of the spots the dog had detected such material at the site of the fire, on the motorhome itself and the dump where materials were deposited, cross-contamination could "absolutely" have been a factor at each scene. He said it was entirely possible the dog had detected accelerants at those scenes, which came from sources completely unrelated to the fire.

Beresh also questioned Wagner about the possible source of the fire, trying repeatedly to get Wagner to confirm the most likely cause of the fire was the engine being dislodged in the collision with a dirt berm, severing a fuel line and having the heat of the engine or exhaust line ignite the spilled fuel.

"It's definitely possible. It's one of the hypotheses we came up with," Wagner said, but he would not confirm if it was the most likely cause.

On Friday morning, Sgt. Mike Donnelly was called to continue his testimony describing pieces of evidence gathered at various scenes to establish the continuity of that evidence for the court.

Thomas cautioned a group of high-school students in the gallery, what was to come.

"For the benefit of the audience, the next hour may be spent marking cans of beers for identification," he said. "It may not be all that riveting."

On Friday afternoon, an associate of Vader's is expected to take the stand.

Campground

Earlier in the week, the caretaker of the Minnow Lake Campground testified he saw Lyle and Marie McCann's motorhome the day it was found burned a kilometre away.

Rolf Wenaas, who was a caretaker for the Minnow Lake and Wolf Lake campgrounds near Peers, Alta., in July 2010, said that on July 5 everything was fairly quiet after the Canada Day long weekend. He arrived at 6:30 a.m. to check the self-registration box and clear away the garbage.

In Site 8 of the nine-site, horseshoe-shaped campground, he saw a motorhome and a green SUV he would later identify as belonging to the McCanns based on media reports.

The motorhome was backed into the site, he said, and the SUV pulled in forward alongside it. Wenaas checked if it was registered at the campground, and discovering it wasn't, knocked on the door.

"I waited about 15 minutes, but there was nobody around so I left," he said.

Wenaas returned around 12:30 p.m. that day, and observed there was no change with either the motorhome or SUV. He knocked again, waited 15 to 20 minutes, and left.

He returned a third time that day at 9:30 p.m. to once again check the self-registration box for registration money. He said he spoke to a park ranger and a tow-truck driver.

"That's when I found out the motorhome had burnt," he said.

Wenaas walked down to where the fire had been, about one kilometre from the campground, but could not say for sure if it had been the same motorhome.

In his cross-examination, defence lawyer Brian Beresh established both Minnow and Wolf lakes were popular destinations for fishing, and that it would be easy for an expert driver to back the motorhome into the site.

He specifically emphasized that had somebody wanted to back the motorhome further into the site so as to obscure it from view it would have been possible, but that wasn't where Wenaas saw it.

Alice Chalmers

Marie McCann's sister Alice Chalmers also testified Wednesday afternoon, describing her relationship with the McCanns and her understanding of their plans.

A woman with a bright manner and quick wit, who drew more than one audible laugh from the courtroom during her testimony, she described the McCanns' travelling and camping habits based on her experience vacationing with them.

She described Lyle as a careful driver who would never exceed the speed limit – out of concern for both safety and fuel economy – and said their vehicles were always kept pristine.

"The motorhome was always spotless, as was the car, inside and out," she said.

Chalmers said the McCanns also kept a cellphone with them for emergencies, and it was kept on the front dashboard on the passenger side.

In his cross-examination, Beresh suggested Marie might have been getting forgetful, as police could find no campground reservations for the McCanns near Blue River for that evening.

He also suggested that during Chalmers' many visits to the McCanns' St. Albert home, she would have been comfortable using the washroom there, perhaps to "fix yourself up."

"I would think I was already fixed up when I got there," she replied, eliciting a chuckle from Justice Denny Thomas.

Beresh pressed on, suggesting she may have used Marie's hairbrush at some point, and she conceded it was possible.

He also suggested Lyle was on a diuretic, which may have influenced how often he stopped.

"A diuretic makes you go to the bathroom a lot," she replied.

Good neighbours

By all accounts the McCanns were well-liked and respected within their family, and it seems that feeling was no different among their neighbours.

Margaret Ann Muffitt testified Thursday morning that she and her husband Norman had lived across the street from the McCanns for 38 years, as of July 2010.

"We were good friends," she said. "We never went into things in detail but we knew each other very well."

She described Marie as "a dear person, a dear soul," and Lyle as "a gentleman," "kind" and a man who "always did what he said he was going to do."

Muffitt said on July 2, she got a call from Marie asking her to take in the mail until they returned July 28.