‘I was yelling for Cliff … but I never got a response’

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This article was published 14/01/2025 (290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cristin Wise’s voice broke and she began to tear up Tuesday as she looked at photographs of a hat and other items that belonged to her boyfriend, who prosecutors allege was killed by their neighbour in June 2021.

While searching for her missing boyfriend, the 44-year-old woman came across Clifford Joseph’s items — a headlamp, shoes and baseball cap — between tire tracks in a field belonging to their neighbour on June 7, 2021, she told jurors during the second day of Eric Wildman’s first-degree murder trial.

“I knew they were Clifford’s,” said Wise.

Crown prosecutors allege Wildman, 38, caught 40-year-old Joseph stealing a winch from him early that morning, ran him down with his vehicle, then moved him elsewhere, where he shot him three times, including once in the back of the head, before hiding his body under brush.

Wildman has pleaded not guilty.

The trial, which began Monday, is Wildman’s second on the murder charge. Court of King’s Bench Justice Richard Saull, who is also overseeing the new trial, declared a mistrial in June 2023 after Wildman’s lead lawyer fell ill.

Joseph and Wise shared a rental home on a property that neighboured Wildman’s, near Stead, about 90 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Wise, who was being questioned by Crown prosecutor Christian Vanderhooft, testified her boyfriend disappeared hours after he told her he planned to steal the winch from Wildman’s property.

She also said that he used drugs, including methamphetamine and cocaine, but testified repeatedly that she had no knowledge if he ever sold drugs. She admitted using alcohol, opioid pills and occasionally cocaine that year, but went to addictions treatment in Winnipeg in April and May of 2021. Wise told court she found out Joseph had been unfaithful during her time away and temporarily kicked him out, before he moved back in a few days before his disappearance.

Wise went to bed to read around 1:30 a.m. on June 7, while Joseph went to tinker in the garage. She told court she texted him about an hour later to see if he would come to bed, but she didn’t get a reply.

Around 3:30 a.m., Wise told jurors she saw their Ford Ranger backing out of their driveway from a security camera monitor in the bedroom, and when she awoke at around 8 a.m., he still wasn’t home. Wise said she contacted Joseph’s sister to see if he had gone to her home, then set out to the neighbouring property where he had planned to steal to look for him.

Wise testified she found the truck, parked across the road from Wildman’s property, and moved it back to their home because it “didn’t feel right” to leave it there. She then returned on foot.

Wise grabbed the shoes, headlamp and cap from Wildman’s property, and brought them back to the home she shared with Joseph, she told court.

She said she did so because it didn’t feel right to leave the items there, and repeatedly said, on cross-examination, that she thought he had just gone missing, or maybe got hurt on the property.

Next she found Joseph’s toolbag beside a trailer next to an attached winch.

Wise picked up the toolkit and took it home before returning with her roommate to search the property further, she said.

“I was yelling for Cliff … but I never got a response,” she said.

RCMP, who were investigating the missing person’s report she filed, later told Wise to return the items to where she said she found them, scolding her for moving them, Wise testified. Officers later photographed the items where she returned them, she said.

Wise gave four statements to Mounties in the days after Joseph’s disappearance and admits she did not immediately tell officers about his plan to steal from Wildman or about his drug use. She said she didn’t want him to get in trouble and wanted police to take his disappearance seriously.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Martin Glazer used Wise’s inconsistencies in her police statements, the fact she said she moved items, her criminal record for theft and impersonation, and inconsistencies between her testimony Tuesday and previous testimony in Wildman’s prior trial to suggest she wasn’t credible.

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Glazer suggested the killing could have been due to a drug debt Joseph owed, or that Wise or someone else on her behalf could have harmed him after he cheated on her. She denied both suggestions.

Joseph made money cutting and selling wood, catching and selling fish and doing odd jobs, the prosecution said Monday.

Wise said Joseph had a large outstanding electricity bill from another residence, but said she wasn’t aware of any drug debts. Wise said she didn’t know the identity of Joseph’s drug dealer and said it wasn’t relevant who she bought drugs from.

The trial is scheduled to last five weeks.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.