Driver accused of murder sent friend suicidal text
Defendant, victim drank, gambled before 2012 fatal crash, court told
Andrew Cowan and Edward Witt drank and gambled the night away at Caesars Windsor. Sometime before their speeding pickup went airborne and crashed into an abandoned building in Leamington, Cowan sent a friend a text message saying he and Witt were going to commit suicide.
Witt, 55, died in the Oct. 21, 2012, crash. Cowan survived. Now a jury that began hearing the case Tuesday must decide if he is guilty of first-degree murder.
Cowan, 45, who has no memory of the crash, was behind the wheel of the Ford F-150 and is alleged to have purposely driven onto a flower bed, using it as a ramp to launch the vehicle into the building at 256 Talbot Rd. W.
Assistant Crown attorney Tom Meehan asked the jury to focus on Cowan’s intent, not his motivation.
“Why did he do something he knew was dangerous and likely to kill him and his best friend?” Meehan said. “Motive is not an element of murder. You don’t need to know why.”
Security camera footage showed Cowan and Witt, who had worked together at Lakeside Plastics, were drinking and gambling at Caesars Windsor from 8:30 p.m. until they left shortly after 1 a.m.
Both had lost a substantial amount of money but appeared in good spirits, Meehan said.
Witt had increasingly turned to alcohol after losing his commonlaw wife of 26 years to cancer in 2009, the prosecutor said. Witt was a frequent casino visitor, but his family said he showed no signs of depression or suicidal thoughts prior to the crash.
The Crown’s first witness was Cowan’s former girlfriend, coworker and longtime friend Tracy Tucker.
They were friends for two years before dating briefly until Cowan broke off the romantic relationship. In the weeks before the crash, he made repeated attempts to win her back, Tucker testified.
Regardless, the two were very close, texted each other daily and often visited the casino together, she said.
Tucker was repeatedly on the verge of tears as she explained how she missed numerous despondent texts from Cowan throughout the tragic night because her cellphone was turned off and the battery needed charging.
Earlier in the day, she had rebuffed Cowan’s offer to spend a night with him in a casino hotel room.
Cowan’s numerous texts to her in the hours leading up to the crash were presented in court on Tuesday. They detailed his casino bets, growing string of gambling losses and his affection for her.
A final text sent shortly after 1 a.m. read: “I love you. Ed and I are going to commit suicide. See you in heaven.”
Tucker was not aware of any of the texts until much later that morning, after being alerted about the crash and turning on her phone.
“I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “I was in shock.”
Cowan never talked about suicide, but he had mentioned that Witt had been depressed “about a week before” the crash, Tucker testified.
She described Cowan as a “bit of an alcoholic” who could be mean verbally but was never aggressive toward her when drunk.
A few days before the crash, he told her he was “on the verge of a nervous breakdown” because he was going to move to his grandparents’ home because they were frail and his father was very ill.
Through tears, Tucker described feeling responsible and that she somehow could have prevented the tragedy if she had only been aware of Cowan’s texts to her that night.
Leamington OPP Const. Mark Harris testified he was the first on the Talbot Street scene at around 1:45 a.m. He found the pickup crunched against the building. The driver and passenger airbags had deployed. Both occupants were wearing seatbelts, unconscious and bleeding. Witt was leaning over top of Cowan, Harris said.
But under cross-examination by Cowan’s lawyer, Patrick Ducharme,
I love you. Ed and I are going to commit suicide. See you in heaven.
Harris admitted he could not be sure that Witt had a shoulder seatbelt on, only that he saw a strap being cut by emergency responders trying to get to the injured men.
Meehan said he plans to call between 20 to 25 witnesses for the trial, which is expected to take four weeks. It resumes Wednesday.