SASKATOON -- A confessional police video was played in court on the second day of Blake Schreiner’s murder trial.
In an interview room video, the accused can be seen telling Sgt. Kory Ochitwa that he blacked out while stabbing his spouse.
Schreiner is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his partner, Tammy Brown.
The 39-year-old was found dead in the couple’s River Heights home on Jan. 29, 2019.
The night before the homicide, Schreiner said he slept in his one-year-old daughter’s room, so Brown could have a good sleep.
Schreiner told the investigator he woke up around 5 a.m. and there was a voice inside his head. He said he grabbed a knife and went into the master bedroom.
"I pretty much blacked out for most of it. I didn’t even know what I was doing," Schreiner said in the video.
He told the investigator, Brown’s last words were addressed to her children.
"Mommy loves you."
When his three-year-old son woke up, Schreiner said the boy came into the room and his feet got soaked in blood.
Schreiner said he closed the door to the master bedroom where Brown’s bloody body lay and savoured the last moments with his kids.
"I thought inside my head I might not ever see my kids again so we had breakfast and we hung out, did our thing and I waited until the last minute to call the cops, Schreiner said.
After police arrived and Schreiner was on the ground being arrested, his son cried hysterically on the couch and his one-year-old daughter crawled beside him.
At one point in the interview, the investigator asked Schreiner how he’s feeling.
“My kids don’t have a mom,” Schreiner answered, bursting into tears.
Before Schreiner’s arrest, he fled the scene and drove around Circle Drive.
“I wanted to figure stuff out in my head,” Schreiner said.
He said he went back to the scene for his kids and called 911.
When the investigator asked Schreiner whether he planned Brown’s death. Schreiner said no.
Schreiner says couple planned to separate
During the police interview, Schreiner also opened up about his relationship with Brown.
He said they had been discussing plans for separation for about a month.
“I love her family. I love Tammy. I don’t know how we got here,” Schreiner told the investigator, sobbing.
Ochitwa asked whether there had been any past violence in their relationship.
Schreiner said only on one occasion when Brown accused him of coming home drunk. They argued and Brown kicked and punched him, Schreiner told the investigator.
Schreiner claimed when the couple was having issues, which had been for about a year, Brown would make ungrounded comments that he was a pedophile.
When the investigator asked Schreiner how it felt after the stabbing, Schreiner cried and said it felt “permanent.”
The investigator ended the interview with an open-ended question — whether Schreiner had anything else he wanted to say?
"Just recently, I haven’t been myself," Schreiner replied.
Schreiner's judge-alone trial has been adjourned until May.
