Thomas Svekla was not himself the day he showed up at his parents' house with a hockey bag in his truck containing the body of a slain prostitute, his double-murder trial heard Tuesday.
His mother, Emily Svekla, testified about the morning of her son's arrest on the front lawn of her home in Fort Saskatchewan and the subsequent conversations they had while he was in prison.
In June 2006, RCMP surrounded the family home in the morning hours after Thomas Svekla's sister discovered the hockey bag in her brother's truck containig a body and called police.
"He sure wasn't himself," Emily Svekla said. "He said he found it and he panicked."
Thomas Svekla, 39, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of offering an indignity to a body in the deaths of prostitutes Theresa Innes, 36, and Rachel Quinney, 19.
He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
She told the court she spoke to her son after his arrest and he tried to explain how the body, later identified as Theresa Innes, ended up in a hockey bag in the back of his truck.
"He tells me he found it in the back of his truck in High Level where he worked," she said.
Court then heard Thomas Svekla also told his mom that he was also unaware of the person's identity.
"He told me he didn't know the person," Emily Svekla said.
Police allege Innes' plastic-wrapped body was transported in a hockey bag from High Level, Alta., to the home of Svekla's sister in Fort Saskatchewan in May 2006.
Officers spent months investigating the Svekla, seizing vehicles from a farm north of the city to gather evidence of the discovery of the prostitute's body.
The trial continues for four months.
With files from David Ewasuk
