RCMP used sympathy approach on murder suspect

The RCMP tried a more sympathetic approach when they interviewed accused killer Travis Vader after charges that he killed an elderly St. Albert couple recommenced.

However, the RCMP officer who did the interview testified Thursday it was simply a strategy to elicit incriminating evidence against Vader.

When asked by prosecutor Ashley Finlayson if it was accurate when he told Vader in the December 2014 interview that he believed he had been “screwed over” by police at the time of his initial arrest, Sgt. Michael McCauley replied: “No, it wasn’t.”

McCauley told Vader he believed his claims of innocence, but in testimony, he said it was simply a ruse to get Vader talking.

Vader maintained he knew nothing about the 2010 disappearance of Lyle McCann, 78, and his wife Marie, 77, and denied driving the couple’s SUV or using their cellphone.

Court has heard that police found Vader’s DNA, blood and fingerprints in the McCanns’ SUV. A witness testified he saw Vader, 44, driving an SUV that looked like the one belonging to the couple.

A former girlfriend of Vader’s testified she received several texts from him on a number she didn’t recognize. Phone records show the number belonged to the McCanns.

Vader was first charged with the killings in April 2012, but the charges were stayed on March 19, 2014. He was charged again on Dec. 19, 2014.

The McCanns were last seen July 3, 2010, leaving a Superstore in St. Albert. Two days later, their motorhome was found ablaze and abandoned at a campground by Minnow Lake.