CALGARY – Best friends of Calgary father Ryan Lane testified in the second day of a high-profile murder trial.
Lane was murdered more than four years ago. His former partner Sheena Cuthill, her husband Tim Rempel, and his brother Will Rempel are all accused in his kidnapping and killing.
Surveillance video from February 6, 2012 was played in a Calgary courtroom Tuesday.
It shows Sheena Cuthill taking her four-year-old daughter to Chuck E. Cheese in Calgary.
Moments after the pair arrive, the girl’s father Ryan Lane is seen, bringing presents. It was the first time he had seen the child in two years.
Vanessa Carlson was one of Lane’s best friends. The pair met through an iPhone gaming app and quickly became close friends.
She proudly shows off a tattoo she got in his honour.
I still get upset a lot now,” said Carlson. “I know a bunch of people all have tattoo memorials for him… It’s a piece of him that’s always with me.”
Carlson said she often shared Skype conversations with Lane. Carlson said she was on the line with Ryan when he got a call to meet a so-called “mystery man”. Lane told Carlson he had to go alone and left. That was the last she ever heard from him.
“It was a big shock just to stop texting the person you talk to everyday,” said Carlson.
John Nelson knew Lane for more than a decade. “He’s a brother from another mother. We grew up together,” he told Global News.
He testified Lane was excited and anxious to see his daughter for the first time in years. Lane posted pictures of the visit with his little girl on Facebook.
The Crown’s theory is that Lane was killed over a custody dispute.
The jury trial is scheduled for six weeks.