TORONTO -- A man Kalen Schlatter’s defence lawyers have suggested could be an alternate suspect in the murder of Tess Richey admitted that he was out looking for sex “or something” when he tried to strike up a conversation with the 22-year-old on the morning she disappeared, a Toronto court heard.
The man, who can only be identified as J.G., was called to the witness stand by the defence at Schlatter’s first-degree murder trial on Thursday.
The man told the court that he had been in his apartment all night until about 3 a.m. on Nov. 25, 2017. He said he left shortly after 3 a.m. and walked to a bank machine to take out $20. He said that is when he came upon Richey, Schlatter and Simard, who had recently bought hot dogs.
J.G. told the court that Richey tried to initiate a conversation with him and asked him to “come here.”
He said Richey was quickly pulled away by Schlatter and Simard, who were on either side of her with their arms linked.
He said after the three left, he “looped around” to try to run into Richey again because “she seemed interested” in him and wanted to have a conversation.
He said he saw her a few minutes later on Dundonald Street, sitting eating her hot dog beside Schlatter and Simard.
J.G. told the court that he was on the opposite side of the street as Richey when she once again spotted him.
J.G. said Richey called out, “Hey, come here. I want to talk to you.”
He said at that point, she was being “held down” so she could not get up to walk over to him.
He added that it appeared Richey wanted to talk to him but was not being “allowed to by the man she was with.”
“They didn’t seem like boyfriend or girlfriend or anything,” he added.
J.G. said he kept walking and ultimately went home. He told the court that he was out of his apartment for about 15 minutes in total that morning.
Defence lawyer Lydia Riva called J.G.’s timeline into question when she presented video surveillance footage appearing to show the witness walking by Crews and Tangos at around 2:30 a.m.
When asked what he was doing outside Crews and Tangos approximately half an hour before he said he had left his apartment, he responded, “walking by?”
Riva also questioned J.G. about why he didn’t go to police when he saw posters about Richey’s disappearance.
He said he didn’t recognize her in the photos on the poster as she was wearing sunglasses.
He went to police on Dec. 1 after reading an article about the discovery of her body in an outdoor stairwell of a building under renovation near Church and Dundonald streets.
The trial resumes this afternoon.
Here are live updates from inside the courtroom:
