‘There was bones’: Farmer who found Christine Wood’s body testifies in court

Ten months after Christine Wood was last seen alive, a farmer and his son discovered the young woman’s body.

It was a difficult day in court for the 21-year-old’s parents, George and Melinda, who heard gruesome and graphic details of the state in which her remains were found.

Wood’s body was found wrapped in plastic in a field just outside Winnipeg in the RM of Springfield.

Brett Ronald Overby, 32, the man accused of killing her, is charged with second-degree murder.

READ MORE: Forensic ID Unit shows pictures from suspect’s house on Day 3 of Overby trial

On Friday — day four of the trial — Richard Vaags told the jury he and his son Joel were on their farmland  June 1, 2017, checking the condition of their soybean fields.

The two noticed a small hole where the soil had been disturbed and stopped to check further.

“That’s when we spotted the site,” Vaags told the court. When he went closer he noticed “this hole, it was probably a foot and a half deep … and there was bones in it.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "That's when we spotted the site," Vaags told the court. When he went closer he noticed "this hole, it was probably a foot and a half deep … and there was bones in it."

Vaags said they were concerned and immediately called the RCMP.

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Christine Wood.Members of the RCMP Forensic Identification Unit spent days in the field at the makeshift grave site.

“As we got deeper we found the deceased was in a state of decomposition,” Lindsay Scott told the court. “The centre of the deceased was mostly scavenged by animals.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "As we got deeper we found the deceased was in a state of decomposition," Lindsay Scott told the court. "The centre of the deceased was mostly scavenged by animals."

Scott said one arm was no longer there and was believed to have been scavenged by animals as well.

“One arm was crossed over the body,” she told the jury. “(It) had a pink fabric attached to it.”

A search of the adjacent farmland on the other side of a road found a muddy cellphone, face down on the ground.

In an agreed statement of facts presented to court, Crown attorney Chantal Boutin said the phone — and a battery found separately nearby — belonged to Wood.

The plastic wrapped around Wood’s body was an exact match to plastic found at Overby’s house.

Wood was last seen on Aug. 19, 2016 when she left the Days Inn hotel. She had been staying there with her parents as they visited the city from Oxford House.

READ MORE: Christine Wood met accused killer through online dating site, Winnipeg jury hears in Day 1 of trial

The Crown believes Wood met Overby on online dating site Plenty of Fish, and arranged to meet him at this home at 341 Burrows Ave.

During an interview with police, Overby denied meeting her.

On Thursday, the court heard her blood was found on a weight bench, closet door and stairs in the basement of Overby’s home.

WATCH: Winnipeg police officers explained evidence discovered at Brett Overby’s home

1:20 Day 3 of Brett Overby trial

Forensic investigators collected a number of swabs from the house in March of 2017, which were sent for testing along with a DNA sample from Wood’s parents.

The tests came back as a positive match to the 21-year-old.

The jury was shown three photos of Wood and Overby, sitting on a couch in the Burrows Avenue home. The photos were recovered off Overby’s home computer.

Overby has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

The Crown has wrapped its case. Overby’s defence lawyers are expected to call evidence on Monday.