Victim’s head injuries led to death, pathologist testifies
Slain Calgary woman Dawns Echoes Baptiste suffered multiple blunt-force injuries all over her body, a pathologist testified Tuesday.
The injuries to her head, including two skull fractures, caused her death, Dr. Bamidele Adeagbo said.
Adeagbo performed an autopsy on Baptiste’s body on Feb. 13, 2015, after her semi-nude body was found in the backyard of a Whitehorn home in northeast Calgary.
“It shows multiple blunt-force injuries of the head, trunk and extremities,” Adeagbo said, of his examination of Baptiste’s remains.
His conclusion was that “Dawns Echoes Baptiste died from multiple blunt-force injuries.”
Curtis Healy is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 11, 2015, killing of the Calgary mother of four.
Crown prosecutor Carla MacPhail noted Adeagbo’s autopsy report said he found dirt on the deceased’s exposed legs, her pants down around her right leg and her face bloodied.
“That’s how she was,” Adeagbo said.
The former Calgary medical examiner said he took swabs from Baptiste’s pants and genital area, and a blood sample, which were sent to the RCMP crime lab in Edmonton.
DNA expert Vishna Skipper testified she did profiling of the exhibits, along with a pair of shoes that were seized from Healy and a coconut-sized rock found near Baptiste’s body.
Skipper told MacPhail a “search technologist” identified two areas of blood on the rock.
“The DNA typing profile matched that of the known sample ... from Dawns Baptiste,” Skipper said.
Semen was identified on her pants and body, which was later matched to a known sample taken from Healy.
Following Skipper’s testimony, MacPhail closed the Crown’s case.
Jurors will hear final arguments Wednesday, after defence counsel Shamsher Kothari said he would be calling no evidence.