Alberta Man’s Defence in Double Murder Trial: Victims Aren’t Even Dead

The lawyer for an alleged meth head accused of murdering an elderly Alberta couple claims his client is innocent because the couple may not even be dead.

Former oil field worker Travis Vader, 44, has pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murders of Lyle, 78, and Marie McCann, 77, a pair of seniors from the Edmonton area who went missing July 3, 2010. The couple was last seen gassing up and buying groceries for their planned road trip to BC to visit family. They never arrived.

Their vehicles, a motorhome found on fire west of the city and a Hyundai Tucson they were towing, were later discovered, but their bodies have never been found.

As Vader's trial began Tuesday in Edmonton, his attorney Brian Beresh argued there's reasonable doubt that the McCanns are even deceased, according to the Canadian Press. Even if they were killed, Beresh told the court "authorities picked the wrong villain" in their rush to pin the crime on someone.

"The names of those suspects will be revealed at this trial."

The Crown prosector, Jim Stewart, said Vader "squandered" away the oil money he used to support his family (a wife and nine kids) on crystal meth. At the time the McCanns went missing, Stewart said Vader was wanted by police for arson and break-ins and was living in the bush. He was busted on those lesser charges in 2010 and later sentenced to 33 months in jail, but wasn't charged with the McCanns' murders for almost another two years.

Stewart said Vader was seen driving the McCanns' Tucson, a claim he said is supported by DNA evidence. He also said Vader used the couple's cellphone to contact his girlfriend at the time.

Vader's journey to the courtroom has faced numerous hiccups.

He was convicted of drug trafficking and theft in 2012, but the judge declared a mistrial—he was found not guilty at the second trial.

In 2014, a Crown stayed the murder charges against him because the RCMP neglected to properly disclose all the evidence from their investigations to lawyers.

Twice that year, Vader sued the RCMP, alleging the case against him was a "witch hunt."

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