Police followed up on 173 tips in murder case Strike continues
Police followed up on each of the 173 tips investigators received following the disappearance of Lise Fredette, the city force’s liaison with other services in the case told the murder trial of the 74-year-old’s alleged killer, Andrew Watson.
Nothing of value to the investigation was found in probing those tips, which continue to trickle in to this day, Const. Eric Easterbrook testified as the first Crown witness to take the stand Tuesday morning in Peterborough Superior Court of Justice.
His evidence focused largely on the search for Fredette. The sevenyear city police member described how information canvassed from witnesses and tips led police to concentrate efforts in areas just south of the city, extending east, on Nov. 24, 2014.
The next day, the search continued in the same areas, but tips were also investigated regarding the former Giant Tiger location just north of the city, he said.
The search continued just south and east of the city the day after that, when Easterbrook himself probed a lead regarding a rolled up carpet discarded in a ditch.
The tips that came in even came from psychics, the officer testified. Investigators checked out a sugar shack near Port Hope and walked the length of a road in a forest near Baxter Creek.
On Nov. 27, the OPP helicopter was used to view a gravel pit near Providence Line and scour the Otonabee River from Lock 19 south to Rice Lake, he said.
On Dec. 13, between 20 and 30 members of the Ontario Volunteer Emergency Response Team (OVERT) scanned the river banks as police used a boat and cadaver dog on the water. The helicopter and OVERT were both deployed three times in the case, Easterbrook said.
Highland Park and Little Lake cemeteries were also searched, with ground-penetrating radar to determine if a body had been placed in one of several fresh grave sites. The device was also used to search for disturbed earth at Watson’s Payne St. home.
The effort is the largest Easterbrook has been a part of, he said during chief examination from assistant Crown attorney Andrew Midwood. “This is the biggest search I’ve ever been involved with. It was massive.”
Det. Const. Dan Lemay, Tuesday ’s third and final witness, spoke about his involvement in the case, including how he was tasked to find Watson and went to his house on Nov. 13, 2014 – the day after the last time Fredette was seen.
At first, he didn’t get an answer at the front door, and so he went to the canvas garage to confirm Watson’s vehicle was there. Circling it clockwise, he noted a smeared stain the size of a pinky finger of what looked like ketchup or blood on the passenger door post.
He could see nothing inside the vehicle to indicated where Fredette might be, said Lemay, who was there along with his partner.
Watson answered the door when he knocked again. He wore light blue jeans with patches, blue slippers, a dark blue zipup sweater with stripes and was clean-shaven.
The man had a small cut that was scabbed over on the web of his right hand, as well as two fresher cuts on the top of his balding head, each shorter than one inch, Lemay said.
Later, during cross-examination by defense lawyer Stefan Dimitrijevic, he agreed that he indicated in his notes that the injury was “older.”
“It wasn’t something that just occurred,” he said.
As they stood on the porch of his home, Watson indicated he was aware of Fredette’s disappearance as her daughter had been to his home earlier that day. He said he hadn’t seen her since Const. Ian Maxwell, who testified Monday, told him to stay away from her.
The last time he had seen Fredette was with her new boyfriend during a seniors dance at the activity centre on Brealey Dr. the previous Saturday night (Nov. 8, 2014), but he didn’t speak to them, Watson told the detective.
Watson then allowed Lemay to enter and go from room to room of the house to confirm there was no sign of the missing woman. They then sat down in his kitchen, where the men had a conversation three to 3 1/2 hours in length, covering many topics.
Watson, who was welcoming and seemed to enjoy having someone to talk to, spoke about how he had dated Fredette for three years and how they broke up for good the previous April over an argument he claimed she initiated.
He said he wasn’t a violent person, didn’t drink or do drugs and that while Fredette rarely drank, she did have “a bit of a temper,” Lemay said. Watson addressed the other officer’s visit. “He made it quite clear that Const. (Ian) Maxwell had made his point.”
The men spoke generally about the dating scene in Peterborough and Toronto and Lemay learned that Watson didn’t own a computer, phone or television, was an avid gardener and had worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources. He never married or had children.
When Lemay asked about the substance on his car, the three men went outside to see it. Watson said it was likely his blood – he was diabetic, on blood thinners and bled easily.
He went on to talk about how he had just cleaned up his own blood from his floor that morning after injuring himself and told Lemay police officers would detect it if they used the forensic device that scans for it, mentioning it by name.
Watson, 78, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and criminal harassment. The body of Fredette, his ex-girlfriend, has never been found.
The trial resumes Wednesday at 10 a.m.