Officer testifies about shift from considering Jamie Leard missing person to case of foul play
CBC
An RCMP officer testified at a southeastern New Brunswick murder trial that he began to suspect foul play in the days after Jamie Leard was reported missing.
"To me, it was more than just a missing persons case," RCMP Const. Mathieu Daigle said of his thoughts while driving away from Leard's Upper Cape home on May 30, 2021.
Daigle was testifying in the murder trial of Henry Alexander Joseph Pottie in Moncton's Court of King's Bench. Pottie, 39, is charged with first-degree murder. He accused of killing Leard, 38, in Upper Cape on May 25, 2021.
He was one of four witnesses who testified Wednesday about the events around when Leard disappeared.
Daigle said he went to Leard's Upper Cape home several times in the days after Doris Leard reported her son missing on May 28, 2021.
Under cross-examination, Daigle described writing a report after one visit setting out his concerns.
They included witness statements changing, missing home surveillance footage during the key period, missing firearms, and the people Leard was involved with.
"To me, and anyone with reasonable capacity, things weren't adding up," the officer testified.
Daigle said he was concerned because three people, including people who stayed at Leard's home, told police he was suicidal. They also suggested he had travelled to Ontario to see a woman. Meanwhile, his family were providing different information.
One of the three, Amanda Noiles, changed her statement about driving to Springhill, N.S., with Leard before he disappeared.
Leard's car was found abandoned in that community the day he was reported missing with fake plates and a covered vehicle identification number.
Defence lawyer Nathan Gorham asked Daigle if he thought they were trying to mislead police.
Daigle said there were still many possibilities, and there wasn't enough information at that point to know Leard had been killed.
Daigle said he took several statements from Leard's roommate, Sean Patterson, in the days after Leard was reported missing.
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