Article contentThe court heard Fillier was found face down over the centre console, a wire wrapped three times around his neck with the other end wrapped around a front seat headrest post.Article contentRCMP forensics specialist Sgt. Jonathan Moran described photographing the truck with a hand-held camera and a low-flying drone, and calling in forensic anthropologist Janna Andronowski to help identify and remove Fillier’s remains from the vehicle.Article contentAndronowski told the court she sifted through burned debris for bone fragments, then helped prepare the victim’s remains for transportation to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s.Article contentHough conducted the autopsy two days later and presented his 10-page report at trial.Article content Matthew Kavanagh speaks with a loved one in the gallery during a break in his murder trial at Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John’s, Oct. 15 2026. Behind him are his lawyers, Stephen Orr and Iain Hollett, and in the witness box is medical examiner Dr. Chris Hough.Article contentMedical examiner reveals autopsy resultsArticle contentMost of Fillier’s body had been burned to some extent, and there was extensive heat damage to his skull and other bones, the pathologist said. The skin on Fillier’s neck had mostly been spared, and Hough noted there were indentations where the wire had been wrapped, fractures of the neck cartilage, and bleeding into the muscles at the back of the neck under the wire.Article contentArticle contentWhen a person dies in a fire it’s usually due to the inhalation of smoke and other airborne substances that kill them, Hough explained. Soot is found in their airway and their carboxyhemoglobin level – the amount of carbon monoxide in their blood – is high.Article contentFillier had none of that, suggesting he was dead before the fire started.Article contentHough noted Fillier had suffered no other significant trauma and showed no sign of natural disease.Article contentDefence teams question findingsArticle contentThe legal teams for the defence – Jason Edwards and Courtney Mills for Cole, Stephen Orr and Iain Hollett for Kavanagh and Jon Noonan and Trevor Murphy for Noftall – cross-examined Hough Friday morning, questioning him about his findings, conclusions, and the possibility that other things could have contributed to Fillier’s death or caused the abnormalities noted in the autopsy report.Article contentThe pathologist said drugs found in Fillier’s system, including an opiate painkiller, sleeping pill, benzodiazepines, cocaine and THC, may have affected his level of consciousness but did not contribute to his death. He ruled out the possibility of the drugs causing a heart attack, saying there was no evidence of it.Article contentNext witness takes the standArticle contentThe trial will continue Monday with the cross-examination of another Crown witness who took the stand Friday: an Upper Island Cove woman who said she and her partner had given Kavanagh their gray Civic the day before Fillier was killed, with the plan that Kavanagh would repair the muffler and return it to them.Article contentShe told the court Kavanagh never brought the car back and was unreachable when she tried calling him. The next thing she heard anything about the vehicle was when police called, she said.Article content
Medical examiner presents autopsy findings at trial of trio accused of murder in Bay Roberts
