Joel Clow murder trial begins

Trial for Joel Lawrence Clow begins with witnesses who found blood, hair outside Pleasant Grove home

An RCMP dog handler searching the scene found Traci Lynch’s body hidden under a tarp in a wheelbarrow, a P.E.I. Supreme Court judge heard Monday.

That evidence was read into the record during the first day of the first-degree murder trial for Joel Lawrence Clow in Charlottetown.

Crown attorney Cyndria Wedge read Const. Marc Alain’s report, which detailed the RCMP officer’s actions on July 24, 2015, when he was looking for a track for a victim of a potential domestic assault.

Alain reported his dog, Cash, picked up a scent and showed a lot of interest in a wheelbarrow that was covered with a tarp and plastic patio table.

When Alain lifted part of the tarp he saw a foot, the report said.

Clow pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder of Lynch in Pleasant Grove on July 24, 2015.

In a statement of admissions, Clow acknowledged his physical acts must be responsible for Lynch’s death. Wedge said in her opening statements that it was the prosecution’s theory Clow was committing the crime of unlawful confinement at the time. Clow was charged with first-degree murder, indecent interference with human remains, uttering threats and obstructing a police officer.

All but the murder charge was adjourned until a verdict at the end of the trial. Alain was also one of three officers who found Clow in his home after they searched it to make sure the scene was safe.

In his report, Alain said the officers noticed a bunch of blankets on a bed and when he pulled them aside Clow was there, curled up in a ball. A video taken after Clow’s arrest was played in court and showed him rolling around on the ground whipping his head back and forth as he appeared to convulse for several minutes.

Someone could be heard on the video repeatedly telling Clow he would be OK before paramedics arrived and with help from an RCMP officer lifted him onto a stretcher. The court also heard from witnesses who said they found blood, hair, broken patio furniture and drag marks outside the home across the road from Clow’s.

One of those witness testified he phoned 911 and during a recording of a call played in court, the witness could be heard saying it wasn’t an emergency, but that someone had been beaten up.

He told the operator there was blood everywhere and a door was half kicked in. “Somebody was beat up pretty bad or murdered,” he said on the call.

RCMP Const. Neil Martin responded to the call and testified that when he saw the scene he thought someone had been the victim of a domestic assault.

Martin said he’d had an unrelated call from Lynch about a week earlier and had a feeling she was the victim.

He testified he and another RCMP member went to Lynch’s home and checked her house to make sure she was safe, but they didn’t find her there.

The trial resumes this morning.