SASKATOON -- Members of RCMP Forensic Identification Services testified in the second degree murder trial of Tyler Vandewater in Prince Albert on Thursday.
They responded to a call of a sudden death in Saskatchewan Penitentiary.
Christopher Van Camp, 37, was killed inside the facility on June 7, 2017. Inmate Tyler Vandewater is charged with second-degree murder in relation to his death. While out on parole, Van Camp had overdosed and was returned to Saskatchewan Penitentiary directly from hospital.
Vanderwater and Van Camp were bunked in the cell together the previous evening and in the morning Van Camp’s body was discovered with puncture wounds in the chest and back, cuts on his face and blunt force trauma on his face, court heard.
Cpl. Janelle Seamolia photographed the scene in cell C-10 in the maximum security unit June 7, 2017.
She described more than 200 photos to the court. Seamolia said she saw a blood soaked mattress with blood soaked through to the metal frame.
Photos and video showed that Van Camp had cuts on his face and puncture wounds on his chest and back.
Seamolia also identified some evidence as the material RCMP collected from the scene - a sharpened piece of wire from a chain fence and a metal shank with black cloth handle.
Cpl. Norman Dupuis said, “There was blood from one end of the cell to the other.”
Some blood appeared to have been cleaned up, and a bag of clothes and towels with blood on them were found under the bed, he said.
An autopsy report on the body concluded Van Camp died from blood loss.
