The crown gave its opening statement and the victim’s mother took the stand on Day 1 of a Meaford murder trial yesterday.
Matthew McQuarrie is charged with first degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Emerson Sprung four years ago.
Assistant Crown Attorney Jayme Lesperance spoke to the jury Monday in an Ontario Superior Court of Justice courtroom in Owen Sound, outlining details of the crown’s case.
McQuarrie — 34 at the time he was charged in 2020 — was also in the courtroom representing himself, but was joined by two appointed lawyers, Tony Bryant and Stephanie Marcade.
The crown called Emerson’s mother Tracy to take the stand to speak about the last time she saw her son.
She described her deep connection to her son and says he was also a person of routine as he needed to take epilepsy medication at a certain time each day. While he did not have a cellphone, he communicated through social media such as Facebook messenger.
She says at the time of May 1, 2020, she did not known McQuarrie, but knew he lived with family just down the road from her home. That day Emerson wanted to invite McQuarrie and his young son over to hang out. Tracy adds during that time, McQuarrie left his son alone with Emerson as he went to do other things.
During the opening statement, Lesperance mentioned police were also investigating Emerson for allegedly touching McQuarrie’s young son.
Tracy continued to share her recollection of the days around Emerson’s death. She says on May 2, 2020, he was going to meet McQuarrie at Memorial Park to hang out, saying he would be right back. He took his bike, his coat and shoes, hugged his mother as they normally do. And that was the last time Tracy says she saw him, waiting up late for her son’s return.
She recalls on May 3, 2020 she felt something was off and that morning she went to check Emerson’s room and did not see his bike or his clothes.
After looking through Emerson’s Facebook messenger and finding his conversation with McQuarrie, she reached out asking for help.
The jury was provided a copy of a series of Facebook messages she had with McQuarrie’s Facebook profile. In the messages Tracy read out in the courtroom, they indicated Emerson did not have a cellphone and needed to take his epilepsy medication, which he did not take with him when he left for the park the night before.
McQuarrie responded to her messages saying he did not meet with Emerson.
She then went down to Memorial Park to search for her son with no success. After returning home she called police, and an investigation begun. Tracy also handed over Emerson’s laptop with the conversation with McQuarrie.
A couple days later, she says detectives informed her McQuarrie had been arrested.
Lesperance says in the crown’s opening statement: on May 3, 2020, people saw blood, teeth and hair at Memorial Park as well as a bike in the water nearby.
He says a search revealed a knife with blood in the water. A cellphone was also recovered with pictures of Emerson’s body and messages on the phone with one reading, “gonna record him apologizing to me as I cut his throat.”
A police dog later found Emerson’s body in a shallow grave at Lakeview Cemetery with multiple stab wounds.
The jury trial is expected to continue for several weeks.
