Aimee Parkes saved her ex fiancé from a suicide attempt in the weeks before he fatality stabbed her 26 times, the court heard Monday.
"I spoke with a friend of Aimee's who told me (Aimee) had located (Ryan Quigley) attempting to commit suicide in a vehicle and that she intervened," said Const. Ann Donnelly, under cross examination from defence lawyer Kevin McCullough, as week two of Quigley's second degree murder trial got underway.
Donnelly said that she also knew Quigley to be a crack user and found multiple pawn shop receipts for jewelry and garden tools from the days before the April 1, 2014 attack took place.
"You thought he was bingeing?" McCullough asked.
"I don't know. I don't know enough about drug use to say that," Donnelly replied.
McCullough also asked for Donnelly's take on unusual aspects of the crime scene, among which being how Parkes was found.
The 35-year-old woman's body was placed face down on the floor under sheets, just outside her bedroom and her head set atop a pillow.
"It gives the impression that the killer assisted the victim with putting their head on the pillow," he said.
He also pointed out that there was a bottle of water placed next to Parkes with a straw in it. That, he said, appeared to be for Parkes and Donnelly agreed that seemed to be the case.
"A killer providing comfort is unusual?" McCullough asked.
Donnelly agreed.
McCullough has said that intent, provocation and intoxication will form the basis of Quigley's defence on the charge of second degree murder. Quigley admitted he killed Parkes when he tried to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, but Crown counsel rejected that plea and moved ahead with the trial.
The couple were together for two years before they hit a rough patch and Parkes tried to extricate herself from the situation.
She was attempting to have him move out of the home they shared when she was killed.
The trial is scheduled to last three more weeks. Quigley waived his right to a jury trial.