Jurors at the Michael Ball murder trial spent much of Wednesday afternoon hearing about a black pickup truck allegedly spotted near the Grand River on the night Erin Howlett disappeared.

They also heard about a pickup truck police were watching as part of their investigation into her disappearance – but the Crown and defence disagreed on whether the same vehicle fit both descriptions.

Among the witnesses testifying Wednesday was Mary Scroggins, who arrived at a parking lot near the river, off of Riverbend Drive in Kitchener, on June 28, 2013.

Sometime between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., Scroggins said, there was only one vehicle in the parking lot – a black pickup truck.

“It was not a full-size, half-ton pickup,” she said, describing the truck as being small, black and “very shiny,” with tinted windows and a black cap on its box.

June 28, 2013, was one night after the last time Howlett, a waitress at a restaurant in Elmira, was seen alive.

Her body was found in the river, not far from that parking lot, a week later.

Michael Ball has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in connection with her death.

Scroggins testified that she and a friend were walking along a trail near the river, only to realize they weren’t alone.

“We saw two men come around the corner,” she said.

“When they saw us, they stopped talking.”

Court also heard from a Waterloo Regional Police detective who said that the truck Scroggins described sounded almost exactly like a truck police had under surveillance as part of their investigation into Howlett’s disappearance.

The only difference, the detective said, is that the truck they were watching did not have a cap.

The truck belonged to Christopher Smith – an acquaintance of an ex-boyfriend of Howlett named James Baechler.

Previous testimony has indicated that Howlett and Ball were in the midst of a turbulent relationship, while Howlett and Baechler reconnected less than two weeks before her disappearance.

Defence lawyers suggested that it was Smith’s truck used to take Howlett’s body to the river, noting that police may not have seen it with a cap, but did spot one sitting in the driveway.

However, that cap was green – not black.

The trial continues Thursday.