No decision on bail for Christine Wood’s accused killer

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This article was published 04/06/2017 (2769 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A judge has reserved her decision on whether to allow Christine Wood’s alleged killer out on bail.

Brett Ronald Overby, 30, appeared in court Monday — five days after Wood’s body was found in a farmer’s field in the RM of Springfield — to ask a judge to release him on bail. He is charged with second-degree murder.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond reserved her decision on whether to allow Overby to go free on bail after hearing arguments from Crown attorney Brent Davidson and defence lawyer Sarah Inness. The judge is set to deliver her decision Thursday at 10 a.m.

Overby, dressed in black from head to toe, was brought to court in shackles and sat in the prisoner’s box while observers in the crowded courtroom — including members of his family, as well as Wood’s family and friends — heard details of the Crown’s case.

However, those details cannot be made public due to a court-ordered publication ban that covers all evidence introduced during the bail hearing.

Wood, 21, and her family had travelled to Winnipeg from Oxford House First Nation for a relative’s medical appointment and were staying in a Polo Park-area hotel. She went out for the evening on Aug. 19, 2016, and vanished.

Her parents, George and Melinda Wood, spent the intervening months searching for her, making public pleas for help and receiving steady support from community volunteers with the Bear Clan Patrol, before police announced a Springfield farmer checking his canola crops found the remains in a shallow grave last Thursday.

Outside court, Wood’s uncle, Bernie Young, said the family had long held onto a “glimmer of hope” she was alive. The discovery of her body last week, more than eight months after her disappearance, gave them some closure, he said, but listening to the details was painful.

“It was very hard. Very difficult. I had a hard time sometimes — just listening to what was being said was very difficult to take,” he said.

Wood was intelligent and friendly, Young said, and that’s how he’d like her memory to live on.

“I think she loved everybody,” he said. “That’s how I will always remember her.”

An autopsy was completed Friday and Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth called a news conference Saturday to announce the remains were Wood’s. Smyth said he had previously phoned Wood’s parents to break the tragic news.

“I told George and Melinda that I can’t begin to know your pain but I will ensure Christine is returned home to you as soon as possible,” Smyth said.

Overby’s bail hearing date had been set well in advance of the farmer’s discovery. He was arrested in April after police searched his home in the 300 block of Burrows Avenue. They spent five days at the taped-off home gathering evidence before publicly announcing that Overby had been charged. Details of what police found while carrying out the search warrant are sealed from the public.

As he announced Overby’s arrest on April 10, WPS homicide unit Sgt. John O’Donovan said even though Wood’s body hadn’t yet been found, “there’s not a one in 20-trillion chance that she is alive.

“We didn’t know she was dead until we got into that house… the main reason we can’t find her is because (Overby) won’t tell us,” he said at the time.

While Overby was being investigated in Wood’s death, he was charged with a previous domestic-violence assault against a former girlfriend dating back to 2011. He was initially arrested for that alleged assault on March 21, when police executed the search warrant at his home. He was released on bail and arrested on the second-degree murder charge less than three weeks later.

His criminal record includes convictions for offences that occurred between 2005 and 2006: impaired driving, assault with a weapon and theft under $5,000.

— with files from Melissa Martin

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay