Kitchen knife was bent, broken, had suspected blood stains, Sarnia murder trial hears

The jury in a Sarnia homicide trial got an up-close look Monday at the alleged murder weapon.

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The 14-person panel was shown several photos of a large black kitchen knife recovered from a hedge in front of 735 Devine St. in late January 2021. The 30-centimeter knife had what appeared to be blood stains, was slightly bent, and a small piece of the plastic handle was missing, Sarnia police Sgt. Aaron Johnston, a forensic identification officer who took the photos, told the jury.

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The piece of plastic missing from the handle was recovered in the bathtub of 566 Devine St., Johnston said.

That’s where Allen Schairer, a 62-year-old retiree and avid photographer who lived alone, was discovered stabbed to death on Jan. 26, 2021, after police found his car abandoned on city outskirts, the trial has heard. Noah Brown, 31, and Joshua Tomlinson, 38, have both pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and breaking and entering.

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As the trial stretched into a fourth week Monday, Johnston told the jury about finding the knife in the hedge – Brown previously told an investigator Tomlinson told him to get rid of it and he tossed it in a bush outside Marshall Gowland Manor – and the process of documenting it. There didn’t appear to be any fingerprints, he said.

The jury, which recently learned Tomlinson also is facing a second, separate murder charge, was also shown photos Johnston took at several other locations in the early days of the Schairer homicide probe.

At Schairer’s home, he shot an object that fell out of the back door when police first went there for a welfare check – initially thought to be a sock, it turned out to be a cat toy – a box for a Bose SoundLink speaker, and blood stains in the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and on a storage tote. At police headquarters, he took pictures of Tomlinson after he was arrested on Jan. 27, 2021, including a close-up of an injury to his left hand.

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Tomlinson’s then-girlfriend previously testified about a nasty cut he had on his hand after coming home late and wearing different clothes.

Johnston also photographed a pair of blue jeans with red stains on them, a black camera backpack that had multiple lenses inside, a Canon camera, and a Bose speaker. Both the camera and the speaker matched boxes from Schairer’s home, Johnston said.

The backpack was discovered during a police raid of the Lillian Street home in which Brown was arrested on Jan. 28, 2021. Brown’s then-girlfriend previously testified he came over to her house two days earlier and was looking through a bag of expensive camera equipment when he went white and nearly fainted after overhearing about a murder on Devine Street.

Finally, Johnston showed the jury photos he took of Schairer’s Hyundai Elantra police found abandoned near Aamjiwnaang First Nation.

The defense lawyers for Brown and Tomlinson will cross-examine Johnston, a Crown witness, when the trial resumes Tuesday.

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@ObserverTerry

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