Jury begins deliberations in murder trial of man accused in 2021 rural Manitoba slaying

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After a month-long trial, jurors are now deciding the fate of Eric Wildman, the man accused of murdering and hiding the body of a neighbour he allegedly caught stealing from him on his rural Manitoba property.

Wildman, 38, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the July 2021 killing of 40-year-old Clifford Joseph.

Jurors began deliberations noon Wednesday after receiving their final instructions from King’s Bench Justice Rick Saull.

Wildman and Joseph lived on neighbouring properties near Stead, about 90 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Prosecutors allege Wildman caught Joseph stealing a winch from his property in the early hours of June 7, ran him down with his vehicle, breaking his jaw, leg and ribs, then moved him to a bushy area a few kilometres away, where he shot him at least two times, including once in the back of the head.

Jurors heard Wildman made his living fixing and selling cars and trucks until a fire in May 2021 destroyed his house and several vehicles on his property.

Cristin Wise, Joseph’s girlfriend, testified he left the house at about 3:30 a.m., June 7, telling her he was going to Wildman’s property to steal a winch.

Wise said she went to the property later that day to look for Joseph and found his truck across the road with his keys and phone inside. She also found tire tracks and Joseph’s hat, shoes and headlamp. Later, she found Joseph’s tools near a trailer and reported him missing to RCMP.

Wildman called RCMP from his mother’s Winnipeg home on June 9 and claimed on the night of Joseph’s disappearance, he had been staying at a friend’s home.

Investigators later found Wildman’s Chevrolet Impala outside another friend’s house in Winnipeg. Inside the car, police found an empty gun case and a receipt from an auto part store dated June 9, where jurors heard Wildman purchased a new hood and replaced it in the parking lot. Prosecutors allege Wildman replaced the hood to cover up the damage that occurred when he ran over Joseph.

After RCMP towed Wildman’s vehicle, he called Mounties from his mother’s home to report a handgun missing from his Stead property. Prosecutors allege Wildman knew police would have found the gun case in his car and claimed it was stolen to divert suspicion.

Police told him he was a suspect in Joseph’s killing and to stay where he was. Instead, Wildman took a taxi to the airport, rented a car and drove to Belleville, Ont., where police arrested him June 18.

In a closing argument before jurors Monday, defence lawyer Martin Glazer dismissed the Crown’s theory Wildman killed Joseph after catching him trying to steal a winch as “absurd,” arguing it was far more likely that Joseph, a man caught up in the illegal drug trade, was murdered by someone he had crossed.

”(Eric Wildman) is no killer,” Glazer said. “Whoever killed Clifford Joseph was a person or persons who knew what they were doing and knew Clifford Joseph.”

Wildman can be heard on jail phone call recordings played for jurors telling people his car hood was damaged after he “smoked a deer.”

Last week, a collision reconstruction expert and former police officer called by the defence testified the car showed no “conclusive” signs it had hit a person.

The Crown’s own collision expert could not rule out damage to the vehicle had been caused by hitting a deer, Glazer said Monday.

Police found no blood or DNA in Wildman’s car that could be linked to Joseph, he said.

Prosecutors countered that Joseph’s initial injuries, before he was shot, did not puncture his skin and caused no bleeding.

Glazer said Wildman made a “bad decision” when he fled Winnipeg for Ontario, but that doesn’t mean he killed Joseph.

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“He panicked,” Glazer said. “He realized he can’t trust the police and he leaves…. The fact he made a bad choice doesn’t make him guilty of murder.”

Crown attorney Bryton Moen said the evidence against Wildman is overwhelming and should leave jurors with no doubt as to his guilt.

Wildman knew neighbours had been stealing from him “and he was ready to deal with it,” Moen said. “The evidence in this case is no coincidence.

“Eric Wildman didn’t randomly decide to change the hood on his car, he didn’t suddenly decide to drive halfway across the country, he didn’t happen to have access to firearms which discharge the same kind of ammunition that is consistent with what was found in Clifford Joseph’s head and back.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean 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.