Local

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Derksen case Hairs linked to accused: expert

DNA ties samples to 47-year-old man

By: Bruce Owen

Posted: 02/4/2011 1:00 AM

Hairs found in the shed where Candace Derksen died were linked through DNA analysis to the man accused of killing her, a Winnipeg jury was told Thursday.

A Thunder Bay, Ont., DNA expert testifed the seven hairs found in 1985 had mitochondrial DNA common to Mark Edward Grant and seven of his siblings. "Essentially, they look the same," Curtis Hildebrandt, a senior scientist with Molecular World, testified on Thursday.

Grant, 47, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

None of Grant's siblings was ever a suspect in Candace's disappearance.

The trial is nearing the end of its third week of testimony, with much of it focused on the DNA evidence gathered by police when they reopened the case in late 2006.

Candace went missing Nov. 30, 1984 while walking home from school at the Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute. Her frozen body was found Jan. 17, 1985 inside a shed located at a brickyard less than two kilometres away from her Elmwood home. She had been bound with rope and froze to death.

When police examined the shed and Candace's clothing for forensic evidence they recovered seven hairs. One of the hairs was found on a log stump inside the shed and the others on her jacket, kangaroo sweater, right sock and a blanket used to cover her body.

Hildebrandt of Molecular World -- it's now owned by Warnex -- said he tested the hairs in November 2006 and developed mitochondrial DNA profiles from each one.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed to children exclusively from the mother so that all children of the same mother have the same mitochondrial DNA.

Hildebrandt also said he obtained mitochondrial DNA profiles from a hair sample Grant supplied to the lab by Winnipeg police. Police also supplied the lab with a blood sample from Grant.

Arlene Lahti, a former senior scientist with Molecular World, said she processed DNA samples from 10 individuals, including seven of Grant's brothers and sisters, his ex-girlfriend Audrey Fontaine, convicted killer-rapist Stanley Pomfret (police considered him a potential suspect) and Derksen's school friend David Wiebe.

The lab found that Fontaine's, Pomfret's and Wiebe's DNA did not match the DNA of Grant, his siblings and the hair found in the shed, the jury was told.

The trial continues today with more DNA evidence.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 4, 2011 A8

(You must be logged in to post your reaction)