A trial started Monday for a Manitoba man accused of killing his neighbour and leading police on a weeklong manhunt that ended in Ontario.
Eric Wildman is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Clifford Joseph, 40, who was reported missing on June 7, 2021.
His remains were found in a rural area northeast of Winnipeg the following month.
Wildman pleaded not guilty in the killing of his former neighbour. Wearing a grey suit with a blue dress shirt and slightly dishevelled hair, Wildman sat with his lawyers at the counsel table. Throughout opening arguments, Wildman had a slight smirk on his face.
Crown attorney Bryton Moen told a jury on the first day of the trial that no one witnessed Joseph’s killing, but they will hear evidence he went to Wildman’s house with a plan to steal from him.
It is alleged that Wildman then ran Joseph over with a car and shot him three times. An autopsy determined Joseph had a broken leg and broken jaw.
“But those didn’t kill him,” Moen said. “What killed him was three gunshots, including one to the back of the head.”
