Erin Howlett’s cell phone was found in a sewer five months after she went missing, a Waterloo Regional Police officer testified Thursday.
Sgt. David Moser said that he found the phone in November 2013, while sifting through silt and mud from a water sewer main along Fischer-Hallman Road.
He also narrated as jurors were shown a video he recorded of Howlett’s body, from the day the remains were found.
Michael Ball is on trial for the first-degree murder of Howlett, whose body was found in a duffel bag in the Grand River.
He has pleaded not guilty.
The bulk of Thursday’s testimony came from Det. Sgt. Gordon Bartosch, the forensic officer who itemized all evidence relating to Howlett’s death.
Jurors were shown a number of items found with Howlett’s body, including a tattered shirt, black yoga pants, a belly ring, a camisole and five large rocks.
During cross-examination, defence lawyers asked why other items from the scene were not processed as evidence, when they might have contained fingerprints or other DNA traces.
“We were working with the homicide department and they determined the importance and relevance of the evidence,” Bartosch responded.
A number of items from a nearby garbage can were seized by police, Bartosch said, but were eventually disposed of rather than itemized.
The trial continues Monday.
