A blood stain spatter analysis expert painted a gruesome picture Wednesday as he described dozens of stains found on furniture and other surfaces in a third-story apartment unit where two men were found bleeding and badly injured in December 2014.
But in all his detailed testimony, evidence linking accused murderer Denecho King to the attack remains elusive.
"(Based on the evidence presented) there is nothing indicating a third party was involved,” admitted blood spatter expert Trevor Knopp under cross-examination by King's lawyer Jay Bran.
When the trial began Crown prosecutor Alex Godfrey told court to expect testimony placing King's DNA on the handle of one of two decorative swords found at the scene.
To date, the only DNA evidence presented so far belongs to the two bleeding men found in the apartment, John Wifladt, who later died in hospital, and his best friend Colin Digness, who survived but spent nearly a month in hospital recuperating.
Digness has previously testified that he had been drinking heavily in the hours leading up to the attack and recalls nothing about it.
King, 25, has been on trial in NWT Supreme Court for murder and attempted murder since April 9. The Crown prosecution is theorizing that King entered the apartment during the early morning hours of Dec. 14, 2014 and used two decorative samurai-style swords owned by Digness, the apartment's tenant, to attack and injure the two men.
Reading his report Wednesday, the blood splatter expert testified blood found on the handle of the longer sword of the two has been matched to the deceased. The sword was found underneath him when paramedics arrived at the scene.
Knopp testified before Justice Andrew Mahar, who is presiding over the trial by judge alone with no jury, that there were mixed DNA profiles from the two men on the blades of the swords as well as clothing worn by both victims on the night of the attack.
A DNA test was not conducted on the handle of the medium-sized sword found at the scene but blood on the blade was consistent with Digness' DNA profile.
More than 20 blood DNA samples were taken from the living room, hallway and the swords -- as well as from the clothing of Wifladt and Digness. None of the blood at the scene belonged to King.
The court was shown multiple pictures from Knopp's report. Pictures of Wifladt's pants showed multiple blood stains. One of the stains on his pants belonged to Digness.
Knopp said during cross-examination he could not give a firm analysis on how Digness' blood ended up on Wifladt's pants, however, he did say it could have happened after the attack occurred.
He explained the bodies were lying close to each other on the floor of the apartment, adding it's plausible Digness' bloody sock could have made contact with Wifladt which created a saturation stain on the pant leg.
Blood analysis on King's shoes come back negative
The white Etnie running shoes King was wearing on the night of the incident were found to have stains on the laces but again, did not connect him to the crime.
Hemostick tests – which are used to measure hemoglobin levels in blood -- were administered but tests on the shoes came back negative.
King had his shoes stolen from the Northern Lights Motel where he presumably stayed with some friends during the early morning hours of Dec. 14, 2014.
A “blind-swab” in the bathroom of room 204 at the motel was taken during the investigation by fingerprint and foot impression analysis expert Christopher Self.
Self testified on Tuesday and returned to the courtroom on Wednesday afternoon for cross-examination. During which Bran asked Self why the swab was conducted.
“I swabbed in an attempt to collect evidence that may have still been in the sink,” said Self.
Bran asked if other peculiar areas were noted by him before entering Sunridge Place apartments. One of the areas, a stain on the third floor near the centre stairwell was not swabbed, along with a stain found in the laundry room on the first floor.
“In hindsight I should have swabbed and photographed those stains,” said Self. “It was an oversight on my part.”
King's trial resumes Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. it's expected video evidence will be presented.