A Sarnia senior found dead three years ago in his Devine Street home was stabbed to death and left in his bathtub, according to the Crown attorney prosecuting a second-degree murder case that started this week.
At Sarnia senior found dead three years ago in his Devine Street home was stabbed to death and left in his bathtub, according to the Crown attorney prosecuting a second-degree murder case that started this week.
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The body of Allen Schairer, 62, was discovered by police during a welfare check around 1:30 pm on Jan. 26, 2021 in the house in which he lived alone close to Tecumseh Park. Two suspects were later arrested that week, but little was known about the homicide probe – the fourth in just 18 days in a city that some years has none – as Sarnia police released little information at the time.
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But new details finally emerged as David Rows, Lambton’s former Crown attorney, delivered his opening address to the jury during the joint trial for the accused, Joshua Tomlinson, 38, and Noah Brown, 31, a pair of Sarnia men who have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and breaking and entering.
The body of Schairer, an avid photographer, was discovered in his bathtub with multiple stab wounds, Rows told the jury. Rows said Michael Shrum, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, will testify he found three stab wounds – one to each side of his chest and another to his chin – that caused major internal trauma, and ultimately, his death.
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Additional stab wounds and injuries were found in the abdomen, left shoulder, and face, he said.
The welfare check was done after police found Schairer’s car abandoned in a field on the outskirts of Sarnia, Rows told the 14-person jury. And there are allegations of DNA discovered inside Schairer’s home, stolen photography and home theater equipment, and a recovered blood-stained knife, Rows said.
But the jury was recalled by both Rows and Superior Court Justice Michael McArthur the Crown’s opening statement is not evidence, just an outline of the case it intends to call. That outline included some witnesses who will take the stand during the next few weeks such as police officers, former partners of the accused, and several people who allegedly interacted with them on or shortly after Jan. 26, 2021.
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The first witness called Thursday was Bryan Schairer, the deceased’s brother. He offered the jury some background on his late brother, whom he last saw on Christmas Eve 2020: he was a longtime bachelor and former City of Sarnia parks and recreation employee who tended to Germain and Norm Perry parks and what is now known as Pat Stapleton Arena.
A tree has been planted outside the hockey rink in his memory.
Next to testify was OPP Det.-Const. Rob Carruthers, who did the welfare check that Tuesday afternoon along with Sarnia police Const. Brad Brooker. Carruthers recalled hearing Brooker asking him to come inside and clear the house as he’d found a fully clothed man in the bathtub with a cut to his head.
“The whole situation’s changed,” Carruthers recalled.
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Carruthers became involved in the investigation as he went to where Schairer’s car was found abandoned, in a field on Lasalle Line near Scott Road, a rural area straddling OPP and Sarnia police territory. He remembered it was stolen and saw two sets of footprints in the snow and went to Schairer’s home to check on him after learning he was the owner.
The final witness called Thursday was Jessica Hales, Brown’s on-and-off partner of several years, who recalled seeing him at some point after 9 pm the day Schairer was found. She spoke he called her asking if he could come to her apartment on Devine Street – about one kilometer east of Schairer’s house – and pick up a camera.
Hales remembered thinking Brown, who used fentanyl and crystal meth at the time, seemed tired and had pinned pupils as he went through the contents of a backpack that contained an expensive camera and lenses.
“He just wasn’t himself,” she said.
Hales also recalled her reaction as she talked to a friend on video chat. The friend supposedly asked her if she’d heard about the murder that’d happened on Devine Street.
“He went like pale white and looked like he was going to pass out,” she testified.
But before she gave that answer, McArthur warned the jury about the rules of law when it comes to hearsay.
Hales is expected to take the stand again when the trial resumes Friday.
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