Testimony continued on Wednesday at the murder trial of Edward Downey and the court heard that a number of calls from the accused’s cellphone led officers to discover the body of one of the victims in a rural area east of Calgary.
Downey is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Sara Baillie and her daughter Taliyah Marsman in July 2016.
During the trial on Wednesday, the court heard from Dianna Sorochan, who exchanged a series of texts with the accused during the time when Baillie and her daughter were killed.
She told the court that she was given Downey’s number by a friend who was trying to get them together.
The pair exchanged texts and photos between July 10 and 12, the day before Downey was arrested by police and charged with the murders. She told the court that a number of the texts were ‘flirtatious’ in nature.
Upon request of Calgary police, Sorochan passed on all the details of the conversation she had with Downey.
The court also heard from Patricia Pace, a civilian member of the Calgary Police Service who is a crime and intelligence analyst that specializes in cell phone analysis.
Pace told the court that she was given the cell phone records for the phone number connected to the Blackberry Downey had when he was arrested on July 13.
From that information, she said that five areas of interest were identified through the records:
- Sara Baillie’s home in Panorama Hills
- where Baillie’s vehicle found
- the daycare that Taliyah attended
- Edward Downey’s home
- the rural location where Taliyah’s body was found (Township Road 250)
Pace said that on July 11, between 4:24 and 4:40 p.m., there was quite a bit of activity on Downey’s cellphone, particularly in the area of cell phone towers near where Taliyah’s body was found.
As a result, Pace produced a map that was used to help investigators locate the young girl’s body.
Pace’s testimony will continue on Thursday.
(With files from Ina Sidhu)
