Jurors at the Michael Ball trial heard Tuesday about what witnesses described as drug use and a romantic entanglement involving Erin Howlett prior to her disappearance and death.
The witnesses were among the first called by lawyers representing Ball, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in connection with the death of Howlett.
First up was testimony from Christopher Lodge, who is currently out of the country and thus was unable to testify in-person.
Instead, a recording of testimony Lodge gave at pretrial was played for jurors.
At that time, Lodge said that he had attended a wedding with Howlett on June 15, 2013 – 12 days before her disappearance.
He said that he drove her to the wedding, having picked her up from 50 Chestnut Street in Kitchener – the basement apartment belonging to Ball – and that once there, he saw Howlett kissing a man named James Baechler.
“It was clear to you that they were romantically involved?” Lodge was asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
The trial has previously heard that Baechler and Howlett were former romantic partners, and that Baechler told police the wedding was the last time he communicated with Howlett, although he later admitted that he was “supposed to see” her on the day she vanished.
Lodge’s testimony also contended that he had seen Howlett consuming cocaine on the night of the wedding.
Asked exactly how many times he had seen Howlett use cocaine that night, Lodge replied “Once or twice – I don’t really remember.”
Jurors also heard about Howlett using cocaine from the day’s second witness, a man named Adam Redmond who spent time with Howlett in the weeks before her death.
Tuesday’s final witness was Jeff Baechler, the older brother of James Baechler.
He told the court that his brother was living in his basement, and “had a relationship” with Howlett during the time period in question.
The trial resumes Wednesday with cross-examination of Jeff Baechler.
