Murder trial hears phone details
Police created map from cellphone usage to assist in search for victim
Jurors in a double-murder trial heard testimony Wednesday from a Calgary police employee who used records of the accused’s cellphone usage to create a map intended to help searchers looking for five-year-old murder victim Taliyah Marsman.
Edward Downey is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of Sara Baillie. He faces the same charge in connection with the death of Baillie’s daughter, Taliyah, whose body was discovered east of the city three days later.
Civilian CPS employee Patricia Pace analyzed cellphone tower usage on July 11, 2016, the day Baillie’s body was found in her northwest home, as part of the investigation. She testified that she created maps plotting the cellphone sites used by Downey’s phone, including around 4:30 p.m. that day, when she described a large volume of communication.
One of the maps she created was produced before investigators found Marsman’s body, in an effort to help determine where to start a search.
“In looking at the activity … it moved from the different towers over a fairly short period of time,” Pace said.
She looked for a common coverage area that was in play during the time frame, then drew a red circle on the map and gave the information to the search managers.
After she was asked to narrow down the search area, she observed that much of the land in the area was flat farm land, with not much of it accessible by road. However, Pace said she did identify an area with “quite a bit of foliage,” which she said provided a logical starting point for searchers.
“In looking at the records, the movement of the cell towers indicated that the cellphone usage seemed to come down, go to an area east of the city and come back into the city with not a lot of time,” Pace said, noting she looked for an area that would not take a lot of time to get to.
“The area along a major road would fit that parameter,” she said.
Jurors also heard details of Downey’s communications on July 11, including messages exchanged with a woman that started the night of July 10.
Dianna Sorochan testified that she started communicating with someone she knew as Delton, after a friend told her he’d found her someone “new to meet.”
She started exchanging texts with the man on July 10, and saw two photos of him, which were entered as court exhibits Wednesday.
Sorochan said the texts continued for “a couple of days,” but that she didn’t interact with him beyond that. During their conversations, court heard, “Delton” told Sorochan he would rather be called D or Edward, and that his real name was Edward.
Multiple messages were exchanged between Edwards’ phone and Sorochan around 4:30 p.m. on July 11, which Pace said used cellphone towers just east of the site where Marsman’s body was recovered, and another near Chestermere Lake.
That evening, court heard, Edwards told Sorochan in a text that his current relationship was failing.
“My thing ain’t working and I think it won’t last so I’m testing what’s out there for me and you seem like a go green light,” he texted her.
Court has previously heard that Downey’s girlfriend at the time, who can only be identified as A.B. because of a publication ban, was close friends with Baillie. A.B. has testified that the day before Baillie was slain, she sent Downey a text message indicating their relationship was over.
Pace will be cross-examined by defence lawyers Thursday.