The jury in a Sarnia murder trial has heard a tone of evidence through the first three weeks about a senior’s fatal stabbing in late January 2021 and the two men accused of killing him.
The jury in a Sarnia murder trial has heard a ton of evidence through the first three weeks about a senior’s fatal stabbing in late January 2021 and the two men accused of killing him.
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But the 14-person group learned for the first time Thursday one of the accused faces a separate murder charge linked to a second senior’s death from just three days earlier.
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Allen Schairer, a 62-year-old avid photographer and retired city parks staffer who lived alone on Devine Street, was discovered stabbed to death in his bathtub 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.
What the jury hadn’t heard, at least not until late Thursday afternoon, was Tomlinson is also charged with second-degree murder in the death of Sue Lumsden, a senior who was stabbed by an intruder during an attempted break-in at a home three days before Schairer died. That finally came to light as Michael Moon, Brown’s lawyer, cross-examined Sarnia police Det. Const. Tyler Callander.
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Callander confirmed to the jury he was investigating both homicides at the same time in January 2021 and one person – Tomlinson, the same person sitting in the courtroom’s prisoner’s box – was arrested in the Lumsden case. Callander later added he believed that case is still before the courts.
Superior Court Justice Michael McArthur, who is overseeing the Schairer trial, bailed the jury he’d have to give them more detailed instructions on the evidence they heard Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the jury watched a lengthy taped interview between Callander and Brown at Sarnia police headquarters at about 7:30 pm on Jan. 28, 2021, approximately 5 1/2 hours after his arrest in the Schairer probe. In it, Brown tells Callander where he stashed the knife, but vehemently denies being inside the Devine Street house when the stabbing took place.
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Brown said he was in Tecumseh Park – the park is across the street from Schairer’s house – around midnight or 1 am on Jan. 26, 2021, when Tomlinson, who had a cut on his left hand, came out of the home, handed him a kitchen knife and told him to get rid of it. He said he tossed the knife in a bush outside Marshall Gowland Manor, which is a long-term care home about 700 meters east on Devine Street.
Then he explained how he and Tomlinson made two to three trips loading a TV, stereo system, tools and a camera into a car in the garage and drove it to a friend’s house on Kathleen Avenue, where the goods were stashed. Brown also threw a wallet that had no cash into a nearby dumpster and they drove the car to the reserve, he told the detective.
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Schairer’s car was discovered in a field near Aamjiwnaang First Nation, the trial has heard.
Callander asked Brown to get in a police car with him that night and show him the bush the knife was hidden in and a couple of other areas to confirm his story. The video stopped and Callander told the jury that’s what they did, with the journey taking from about 9:30 pm to 11 pm
Callander repeatedly thanked Brown, who mumbled at times and showed little emotion during the 90-minute interview, for being honest with him.
But emotions ran higher during a second interview starting around 6:45 am the next morning as Callander accused Brown of not being truthful with him. The detective repeatedly tells Brown he knows he was in the Devine Street house and not just in the nearby park, but Brown denies this.
“I was not in the (expletive) house when it happened,” Brown responds. “I didn’t even know the guy was (expletive) dead until the next morning.”
The trial has heard Brown went white and looked like he was going to pass out when he overheard a conversation about a murder on Devine Street.
McArthur also warned the jury anything said in the police interview by Brown about Tomlinson can’t be used to determine his guilt or innocence; the video can only be used to assess Brown.
Callander later told Moon Tomlinson stayed silent during his police interview.
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