The Crime Tapes: The Michael White trial

CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk takes a look back at the case of Liana White, who went missing in July 2005, and the trial of her husband Michael White.

Michael White’s second-degree murder trial before a jury began in November 2006. During his trial, jurors were shown images of the inside of Michael and Liana’s home in the daytime, and it looked spotless.

But police also portrayed it in a different light — one that glowed bright blue.

We take a look at those images, along with some early surveillance camera images that seem to first show Liana’s vehicle, then Michael, the morning she disappeared, in Part 3 of The Crime Tapes.

• Part 1: The Michael White investigation
• Part 2: Liana White is found and her husband is arrested

Nov. 7, 2006: Blood inside the home

Michael White was being watched by police, especially in the early days just after his wife was reported missing.

Investigators doing surveillance watched him drive down a road on the edge of the city, go into tall grass in a ditch and pull out two garbage bags.

When White took those bags home and placed them in his trash cans, police made sure an officer was on the garbage truck that picked those bags up, because what was inside became a big part of the Crown’s case against White.

Nov. 8, 2006: DNA belonging to Michael and Liana found on bloody items

A major piece of evidence the Crown was never able to show jurors in White’s murder trial? The murder weapon. One was never found.

His wife Liana’s remains showed evidence of stab wounds, but the trial would never see the actual knife with any fingerprints or blood on it.

What was presented, although not a smoking gun, seemed to show both the suspect and the vehicle together on the day Liana was reported missing.

Nov. 15, 2006: The surveillance footage

The public knew of White through his appearances on TV in the days following his wife’s murder, but soon the jury would see much different video of him, inside a police interrogation room.

Part 4 of The Crime Tapes will be posted on Thursday.