Sheena Bates became concerned when the car she was riding in didn’t go back to a rental agency.
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This prompted her to ask the driver, Noah Brown, a series of questions. That’s when the Sarnia woman learned the car wasn’t a rental – it was stolen – and its owner may have been stabbed.
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“That’s when I wanted out of the car,” Bates, 38, testified Monday. “I got really upset.”
Brown, 31, and Joshua Tomlinson, 38, both pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and breaking and entering at the start of what’s expected to be a five-week trial into the death of Allen Schairer. The 62-year-old avid photographer and former city parks worker was discovered stabbed to death in the bathtub of his Devine Street home on Jan. 26, 2021, after his 2012 Hyundai Elantra was found abandoned on the city’s outskirts.
The trial’s third week started Monday with the testimony of Bates, who knew Brown and Tomlinson at the time through the Sarnia drug subculture. Brown, homeless after his girlfriend kicked him out, had spent some time at Bates’s Kathleen Avenue home. Tomlinson also lived on Kathleen Avenue with a new girlfriend.
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After learning of the stabbing, a terrified Bates switched to a following car, owned and driven by her on-and-off boyfriend, Dylon Wagner. Another person – possibly Tomlinson, though Bates said her memory wasn’t clear – was in the car.
Leaving the first car in a quiet area of Aamjiwnaang First Nation, the four drove back to Sarnia in Wagner’s vehicle, she said.
OPP Det.-Const. Rob Carruthers testified that Schairer’s car was found abandoned in a field on Lasalle Line near Scott Road. Carruthers and a Sarnia police officer then did a welfare check at Schairer’s home and found his body in the tub.
Tomlinson was arrested Jan. 27, 2021, and Brown the next day. Despite being afraid of Brown, Bates went to police Jan. 31 and gave multiple interviews, she testified.
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She also recalled being terrified during the unexpected drive to Aamjiwnaang in what turned out to be a stolen car. Learning of the potential stabbing sets her off.
“I was just unsure what was going on. The situation was getting worse,” she said. “I didn’t want any more information.”
Earlier in the day, Brown and Tomlinson came over to her home with some speakers, she told the court. “They seemed disoriented or upset about something.”
Brown gave her a TV as a gift to replace one recently stolen, Bates added.
Bates’ testimony will continue Wednesday. Wagner also is expected to be called to testify at some point. Two police officers are scheduled to take the stand Tuesday.
Tomlinson’s then-girlfriend has testified he came home wearing new clothes and with a nasty cut on his hand. Brown’s former partner testified he went white and nearly fainted while going through a bag of expensive camera gear after hearing there’d been a murder on Devine Street.
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