Crown closes its case with DNA test results linking Tyler Hikoalok to 2018 sexual assault and killing of church librarian

DNA evidence linked Tyler Hikoalok to the sexual assault and killing of church librarian Elisabeth Salm after his DNA profile was matched with swabs taken from the victim’s body and forensic investigators found traces of her blood on a shoe and bracelet Hikoalok wore.

Hikoalok has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in a killing prosecutors described as a “vicious and brutal attack” that left Salm clinging to life inside the Christian Science Reading Room on May 24, 2018. She was found by a co-worker hours later and was rushed to hospital, where she died the following day.

The Crown closed its case against Hikoalok on Thursday after calling its final witness, forensic scientist Melinda Matte, who was qualified by the court as an expert in bodily fluid identification and DNA analysis and interpretation.

Investigators took swabs of blood from the crime scene and a specialized sexual assault unit collected further samples from Salm’s body in hospital, which were sent for analysis to the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto.

Forensic scientists were able to build a complete DNA profile from semen found in an external genital swab from the victim, Matte told the jury, and that profile was suitable for comparison to known “reference samples” of DNA that were already on file with the CFS.

The testing turned up a match with Hikoalok on May 27, Matte testified, and that information was immediately relayed to Ottawa police.

Hikoalok was arrested around 4:30 p.m. that same day after two Ottawa police officers had identified him as the male figure seen in video surveillance images taken near the crime scene around the time Salm was killed, according to evidence entered earlier at trial.

The two officers recognized Hikoalok from a “prior interaction” he had with police, and Superior Court Justice Anne London-Weinstein cautioned the jury against reading too much from that prior interaction, and to use “common sense” when weighing the testimony they heard.

Clothing Hikoalok wore at the time of his arrest was seized by police and sent to the CFS for analysis.

Testing came back positive for Salm’s blood on his left shoe and on a leather bracelet Hikoalok was wearing at the time, Matte testified.

She guided the jury through the accuracy of the DNA testing and the probabilities that identified Hikoalok as a positive match.

The CFS testing found a mixture of two DNA profiles in the genital swab that is estimated to be 55 trillion times more likely to originate from Salm and Hikoalok than from an unknown, unrelated individual.

The bloodstain on Hikoalok’s left shoe contained traces of DNA from two people, and Salm and Hikoalok “cannot be excluded” as the contributors, Matte explained.

That DNA mixture was estimated to be 13 trillion times more likely to originate from Salm and one unknown person than if they originated from two other, unrelated people. Salm’s blood was also found in a cutout of the leather bracelet.

The CFS also found traces of blood on Salm’s fingernail clippings, but there was insufficient evidence to warrant further testing. Forensic investigators could only conclude that a small amount of male DNA “may or may not” have been present.

No other DNA profile was identified during the CFS analysis, or as Matte explained, “No profile was unaccounted for.”

The blood samples swabbed from the scene at 141 Laurier Ave. were confirmed by the CFS as a positive match with Salm, Matte testified.

The Crown’s evidence concluded Thursday with Assistant Crown attorney Lisa Miles presenting the jury with a series of admissions, drafted in agreement with Hikoalok’s defence team of Michael Smith and Brook Laforest.

The jury was instructed to accept as proven fact that the DNA profile identified by the CFS is the DNA profile of Tyler Hikoalok.

The “chain of custody, continuity and integrity” of all the exhibits swabbed and seized from the scene, from Salm and from Hikoalok were also admitted as fact.

The “continuity and accuracy” of video surveillance footage is admitted as fact, showing Hikoalok near the reading room entrance at 9:14 a.m. and leaving through a separate exit at 10:21 a.m. on the day Salm was killed.

There was likewise no further challenge to the video evidence showing Hikoalok arriving at the Debbie Campbell Learning Academy 440 Albert St. around 11 a.m. that day, wearing shorts and a t-shirt and chatting casually with staff over lunch.

Hikoalok’s jeans and the “Tribe” branded hoodie he was seen wearing in the first surveillance video were never located or recovered during the investigation, Miles told the jury.

The trial will now pause until Tuesday, when the lawyers representing Hikoalok will have an opportunity to mount a defence.

ahelmer@postmedia.com

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