‘I never killed anybody’: Accused claims he discovered body in trunk after carjacking

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This article was published 10/02/2016 (3002 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thomas Brine admits to being a lot of things — but the Winnipeg man insists he’s not a killer.

Brine, 29, told police he found the body of 73-year-old Elizabeth Lafantaisie already stuffed inside the trunk of a running vehicle he then stole from a University Crescent parkade in February 2011. Brine says he then smoked a lot of crack cocaine, washed the car in an attempt to erase evidence and abandoned it.

“I never killed anybody. That’s insane, ridiculous,” Brine told homicide detectives repeatedly during an often intense, eight-hour interview that jurors finished watching on Thursday. “I’m not saying it’s not (expletive) up. But it’s what occurred.”

Brine is now on trial for first-degree murder for allegedly raping and strangling Lafantaisie, 73, in what justice officials say was a completely random attack. The Crown has closed its case following just four days of evidence. The defence is calling no evidence, and closing arguments are set for next Tuesday, with jury deliberations to begin on Wednesday.

Police arrested Brine 10 days after the killing. They had not yet conducted an autopsy which would reveal the cause of death because Lafantaisie’s body was still frozen, nor had they got back DNA results which would show Brine’s semen inside the victim. A DNA expert said this week the chance of the DNA profile belonging to someone other than Brine are one in 68 trillion.

However, that lack of forensic evidence didn’t stop Sgt. Wesley Rommel from an intense grilling that, at times, reduced Brine to tears.

“Things happened, things got out of control,” Rommel says to the accused at one point, suggesting his admitted plan of prowling parkades to steal from vehicles took a deadly turn.

“No. No. Not me. Nope. No. Not from me. Not from me. F–k this,” Brine replied. “Even if this lady would have seen me, I would run. I know what I saw. I know what I did that day. I didn’t do that. I ain’t a (expletive) killer, man. I’m being straight with you. I never put that old lady in there.”

Rommel asked Brine what it would mean if they ultimately found DNA on the victim, such as under Lafantaisie’s fingernails. Brine said that wouldn’t be possible.

“I am not (expletive) going to jail for a murder I never did,” he said. “I never killed anybody. I swear to God.”

Police were initially focused on another potential suspect but honed in on Brine after surveillance video from an Osborne Street car wash showed him inside one of the bays with Lafantaisie’s missing vehicle.

Brine didn’t deny doing this but said it wasn’t because he was trying to clean away a murder. He claims to have been worried about leaving fingerprints behind as a result of stealing the car and some of the belongings, which was a regular practice of his.

“Some (expletive) idiot left it running,” Brine insisted. He said the sight of a dead body resulted in him “tripping right out” and smoking several rocks of crack cocaine.

“I had this car with a body in it. I never thought I’d have this kind of thing ever happen to me,” said Brine. “I lost my mind, man. I just (expletive) drove, man. I didn’t look in that trunk again.”

Brine wasn’t immediately forthcoming to police about the body in the trunk, only admitting to that once pressed. But he refused to go any further and confess to the killing.

Police tried to play on Brine’s emotions, asking him to consider how the victim’s family must be feeling and questioning what kind of person could commit such a crime.

“I have no idea. Who the hell knows? You’d have to have a pretty deep issue or something like that,” said Brine.

The lengthy interview concluded in the middle of the night when a clearly frustrated Brine invoked his right to speak to a lawyer. Queen’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey told jurors this week the video statement was previously ruled admissible but some portions had been edited.

www.mikeoncrime.com