'We've got her,' hopeful officer yelled upon discovery of child's body, Downey murder trial hears

Even though five-year-old Taliyah Marsman had been missing for three days, the police officer who discovered her body in a stand of bushes east of the city held out hope at first, calling out her name when he spotted her.

"We've got her," Const. Karl Sudyk yelled to his partner. Then he shouted: "Taliyah."

It was another day of heartbreaking andhorrifyingevidence for the families of Taliyah and her mother, Sara Baillie, who were killed in July 2016.

Edward Downey, 48, is on trial on two counts of first-degree murder.

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On July 14, 2016,Sudyk had been given a map of the area to be searched, which was created using a triangle of cell tower locations.

Jurors heard on Day 1 of the trial that Downey's cellphone had been in that rural area the same day Baillie's body was found in her northwest Calgary home and helped lead police to Taliyah's remains.

Sudyktold prosecutor Ryan Jenkinshe had beenassigned the role of search manager, in charge of the effort to find Taliyah.

Around 9:30 a.m., Sudyk and his partner began their search with the plan to scour roads, ditches and culverts looking for Taliyah's body or other evidence.

Just off Township Road 250, the girl was found with her arm resting above her head. Flies were buzzing around her face.

Earlier on Friday, jurors heard from Sgt. Jodi Arns, who became involved in the investigation days earlier when she attended Baillie's autopsy to seize the duct tape that had been wrapped around the victim's head and wrists.

There was an urgency in running the fingerprints found on the tape because Taliyah was still missing and there was hope she would be found alive.

Downey had been fingerprinted by Calgary police in 2006.Arns was able to determine his left forefinger had left two prints on the duct tape around Baillie's lower jaw and neck.

Lead crime scenes unit investigator Const. Lyndsey Chiasson was Friday's final witness. She told jurors about examining Baillie's body once it was cut out of the laundry hamperwhere it was found.

She told jurors the inside of the laundry hamper had become "saturated with blood."

Photos of Baillie's body showed blood coming from her nose. Her eyes were swollen and there was "a significant amount of blood" soaked into her hair and clothing.

Baillie's wrists and face were "tightly bound" by duct tape.

Video seized from the victims' neighbourhood bus, taxi and home security cameras showed a car identical to the one known to be driven by Downey parked just metres away from Baillie's home before 8:43 a.m. on the Monday her body was found.

As for a motive, prosecutor Carla MacPhail told jurors in her opening statement that they should consider whether Downey blamed Baillie for encouraging his girlfriend to leave him and because she had refused to work as an escort.

Downeyis represented by defence lawyers Gavin Wolch and Meryl Friedland.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Beth Hughes is presiding over the trial, which continuesMonday.

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