Derksen died from hypothermia: medical examiner at re-trial

Medical examiner speaks in re-trial Court heard from the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Candace Derksen's body and a cold case investigator. Emad Agahi reports.

Week two of the Candace Derksen murder re-trial began with court hearing from the forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on the 13-year-old's body.

Derksen was found dead in January 1985, in a storage shed 500 metres from her home.

Dr. Peter Markesteyn was Manitoba’s chief medical examiner at the time and completed a four-hour autopsy at Seven Oaks Hospital.

He told court there were no signs of sexual trauma after examining her clothing and body.

He also testified he found swelling in her hands saying, "she was alive when the ligature was applied."

Dr. Markesteyn told court he determined, "death was due to hypothermia."

Winnipeg police officer Jonathan Lutz also took the stand Monday.

He was assigned to the Winnipeg Police Service cold case unit in May 2006, at which time he began a review into Derksen's case.

Lutz testified DNA found on Derksen's clothing and in the shed, where she was found, matched the same profile found in DNA police had already obtained from Mark Edward Grant in unrelated cases.

During their cross examination of Lutz, defence lawyers argued that police never asked the DNA testing lab for a full report detailing the entire process that lead up to their final results.

The re-trial is expected to last about a month.