Saskatoon woman Shawna Arthurs sat on the witness stand at the Court of King’s Bench Tuesday morning and claimed she heard screams from below on the day of Ally Moosehunter’s murder.
Moosehunter, 28, was found dead in her basement suite March 4, 2020, in the 500 block of Geary Crescent. The cause of her death has not been released.
Tuesday was the second day of trial for Ivan (Robbie) Martell, Moosehunter’s former partner, charged with first-degree murder in her death.
The day Moosehunter was found, Arthurs, her upstairs neighbour, said she was woken up by her dog and heard a commotion from the unit below.
“It was like a muffled scream,” Arthur said. “I heard noises I’ve never heard from there before.”
Arthurs testified that she and Moosehunter were friends who checked in on each other occasionally, so she called to make sure she was OK.
Moosehunter didn’t pick up.
Arthur sent Moosehunter a text at 5:04 a.m. asking her to respond back that she was safe.
An hour later, after she had gone back to sleep, she received a response from Moosehunter’s phone number.
At 6:06 a.m. three text messages were sent to Arthur reading, “Sorry tickle fight,” “I couldn’t hear my phone” and “Oh dear sis.”
A photo of the text thread was provided in court.
“I knew it wasn’t her,” Arthurs testified. “She never called me sis, and a tickle fight? That’s not Ally.”
Despite her suspicions, Arthurs went back to sleep after making the decision with her husband not to call the police.
Around 9 a.m. the same morning, Arthurs said she heard the door to Moosehunter’s suite slam and noticed her car disappear.
Shortly after, Moosehunter’s family came looking for her, saying she didn’t show up to work.
Moosehunter’s brothers broke into the basement and found her body on the bathroom floor, covered in blood.
“I was hoping there was nothing wrong,” said Arthurs, explaining why she didn’t call the police after she heard noises.
“She was so kind. We talked when we saw each other. We texted.”
Martell’s trial is to continue over the next four weeks.