RCMP Cpl. Evan Hobbs knew something was off when he spotted a grey Honda parked on the road to Sayward the evening of March 12, 2016.
“The vehicle was parked just before the bridge, which was a little odd. The time of night was odd. It’s March, it’s dark, it’s wet and it’s cold, with rain and snow. It caught my attention because it shouldn’t have been there,” Hobbs testified at Richard Alexander’s trial for the first-degree murder of Dillon Brown.
The Crown has alleged that Alexander, former president of the Devil’s Army motorcycle club, shot Brown, a 30-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, in the head in the basement of the Devil’s Army clubhouse in Campbell River on March 11, 2016.
Alexander denies killing Brown but has admitted that he drove Brown’s car with Brown’s body in the trunk to Sayward and abandoned the car by the side of the road.
Hobbs, then a general duty officer with Sayward RCMP, recalled that the Honda’s passenger-side window was all the way down. The driver-side window was partially down.
Hobbs did a U-turn, pulled up behind the Honda and called in the licence plate. A police dispatcher told him it was connected to a missing-person investigation.
Hobbs got out of his police car. The Honda’s exhaust pipe was cold, which told him the car had been parked there for some time, he testified.
Hobbs noticed a child’s booster seat in the back seat and became concerned. He asked Campbell River RCMP to send a police dog in case police had to search the area. He also asked for backup from the Sayward RCMP detachment.
“I knew something weird was going on,” he testified.
The officer waited to see what steps Campbell River RCMP wanted to take because the missing-person file was in their jurisdiction.
Officers there decided they would wait until more information was available. Hobbs called for a tow truck, which arrived at 11:20 p.m., he testified.
Hobbs put on latex gloves, opened the passenger door, then popped the hood and the trunk open.
“Why did you open up the trunk?” asked Crown prosecutor Lorne Phipps.
“That was the only part of the vehicle we hadn’t been able to visually search through windows … and we still didn’t know the location of Mr. Brown and there was concern he was in the trunk,” Hobbs testified.
They found Brown’s body in the back of the trunk.
The officers partially closed the trunk lid to prevent contamination and preserve evidence and closed off Sayward Road with police cars. They covered the Honda with two tents, one from the detachment and another from the volunteer fire department, said Hobbs.
“We were starting to get heavy rain and some snow. It was just not very pleasant.”
When the tents were secured, Hobbs lifted the lid of the trunk again and noted signs of trauma on the body. There was blood on the person’s pants, pooling of blood in his hands and his skin was cold to the touch, the officer recalled.
At this point in the trial, jurors were given a book of photographs. Justice Geoffrey Gaul told them that they would see photographs of Brown’s body.
“Some images may be graphic. That’s part of the trial process,” he said. “You’re not to allow the graphic nature of the evidence to sway you one way or the other.”
The jurors were told they could take a break if needed.
On March 15, Hobbs travelled to Vancouver with Brown’s body to be present for the autopsy.
RCMP Sgt. Mike Pollock was also on the stand, describing the March 19, 2016, search of two dive sites near Sayward by the Island District Underwater recovery team.
Officers walked in shallow water or crawled against the current during the search. They also jumped into deeper water and drifted with the current.
Eventually, Pollock found a key fob on the gravelly bottom of the Sayward River. The key fob belonged to Brown’s Honda.
