The trial of Kyle Alexander James Pietz resumed Tuesday inside a Winnipeg courtroom after only sitting for four days out of the previous two weeks.
The proceedings had been delayed due to COVID-19 cases among several jurors, and after resuming for one day last week was again put on hold due to the threat of an incoming winter storm.
Court heard testimony from a pair of Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) officers assigned to the case of Eduardo Balaquit, which quickly turned from a missing persons investigation into that of a homicide, on June 5, 2018.
Balaquit, 59, was last seen the previous night, headed to his part-time job as a cleaner at Westcon Equipment & Rentals, a commercial business on Keewatin Street.
Court heard from WPS Const. Daniel Cifuentes with the forensic identification unit, who says one of three fingerprints lifted from that building during a break-and-enter investigation in April of that came back as a match for Pietz.
The crown’s initial arguments painted Pietz as a man desperate for money after being fired from Westcon in the months before Balaquit went missing.
Next, Sgt. Matthew Freeman testified as a former member of the homicide unit.
Court heard he investigated 11 different transactions involving credit or debit cards owned by Balaquit that took place in the hours following his disappearance.
Evidence of security camera footage from an Arlington Street convenience store where several of the transactions occurred was shown to the court.
But it wasn’t Pietz who was using the cards.
Leslie Walker, the final witness of the day, told court he smashed the window of Balaquit’s van on the night he went missing, took the wallet inside, and began using the cards.
Court heard Walker was on the hunt for scrap metal that night, and had just stolen copper pipe from a plumbing van nearby before coming across Balaquit’s vehicle.
Court heard Walker was arrested roughly a month later, initially as a suspect in the killing.
But Freeman told the court he soon discovered Walker was only guilty of the financial crimes.
Walker plead guilty to fraud-related charges in summer 2018, and is now in the midst of a sentence at Stony Mountain Institution on an unrelated conviction.
He told the court he saw news of Balaquit’s disappearance and disposed of the cards soon after.
Balaquit’s body has never been found.
Despite the delays, counsel believes the trial, which was originally scheduled to last six weeks, will finish on time.
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