Accused in Ryan Lane murder trial struggles to explain whereabouts

Two days, two brothers, two denials.

On Tuesday, a Calgary jury heard a conversation between Wilhelm Rempel and a Calgary police detective recorded at Rempel's Airdrie home just days after Ryan Lane disappeared.

Rempel is accused along with his brother, Tim and Tim's wife,SheenaCuthill,of kidnapping and killing Lane, in the early morning hours of Feb. 7,2012.

But in the last two dayscourt has heard recorded interviews with police where both brothers denied ever meeting Lane despite his DNA being foundin each of their vehicles.

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Wilhelm Rempel told detectives he had coffee with his estranged wife on Feb. 6, the night of Lane's disappearance, until about1 a.m.,when she dropped him off.

"I think I just went to bed," he said of his activity afterward.

Then the officers confronted Rempelwith a photo of his truck at a Calgary Esso at 11:30 p.m.

That Essoon Country Hills Blvd., is close to the strip mall where Lane was allegedly abducted.

"You tell me my truck is there, I guess my truck is there," says Rempel who then struggled to explain a timeline of his night.

Det. Jeff Charlet described Wilhelm Rempel's mood at the time of the interview as "sombre but cooperative." Initially he refused to go to police headquarters for a videotaped interview but eventually allowed officers into his home.

After the officers showed a photo of his truck at the Esso, Charlet testified that Rempel got defensive.

Throughout the interview, Rempel denies knowing anyone named Ryan Lane.

"Who is Ryan Lane, anyhow?" he asks the detectives.

On Monday, a forensic expert with the RCMP testified that Lane's DNA was found on the ceiling of the the truck Wilhelm Rempel sold to a scrap yard on Feb. 8.

Though he told detectives he sold the truck because it was broken and he needed the money, he accepted just $130 from the yard despite being offered $500 by one of its employees.

"I had an opportunity to sell it, I sold it, I'm sorry," said Rempel to the detectives when he was asked about the vehicle from the surveillance photo.

Rempel was also seen pressure washing the inside and outside of that truck at a carwash in the hours after Lane was last seen getting into a vehicle that matched the description of the red pickup.

Rempel, his brother Tim and Tim's wife, Sheena Cuthill are accused of killing Lane just after he started fighting for visitation rights with the daughter he and Cuthill shared.

The Crown's case continues on Wednesday.