the fifth estate uncovers evidence that a possible suspect was never investigated by the OPP. more

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THE FOOTPRINT

The prosecution also made much of the testimony of an alleged footprint - spotted, they said, by one of the searchers, Flying Officer Glen Sage. The crown prosecutor insisted, - the evidence is clear, these were his shoes. Seven of the jurors said later they were convinced the footprint in the photo fitted Steven's shoe.

But in fact, Sage's views are contradicted by George Edens, the searcher who found the body and by the police expert in identification.

Court testimony showed that the - marks -- not even footprints -- were never matched by the police to Truscott's shoes - or any shoes for that matter.

Here are excerpts from Flying Officer's Glen Sage interview with the fifth estate. His views are contradicted by the searcher who found the body and stood guard over it for hours and by the police expert in identification. Read Glen Sage's statement.

SAGE: I was standing right below the body. You look down and you saw there was two mounds that was it's in the book. And you could clearly see a footprint. And I saw it.

MACINTYRE: What does it do to your certainty about what you saw when, when the expert, the guy who's been trained in these things says no footprint. Certainly there may have been a mark on the ground but you couldn't tell it was made by a foot or a shoe.

SAGE: Well if he didn't see it but it was there. The proof is in the photograph.

MACINTYRE: Why wouldn't you have mentioned it in your police report?

SAGE: I can't answer that, I don't know I guess I wasn't asked. I don't know. I wouldn't say it's a contradiction, it was an oversight on the part of the police in my estimation.

MACINTYRE: Your testimony became pretty central to his conviction.

SAGE: I guess it did, yeah.

MACINTYRE: And you had not regrets?

SAGE: I have no regrets.

Corporal Erskine, the police expert in charge of the local OPP's Identification Branch who took the pictures, said they were "so indistinct that it could not be accurately measured." He admitted he "couldn't attribute them to any particular type of shoe", much less Truscott's shoes. Read some excerpts from his court testimony.

George Edens was the airman on the Clinton airbase who discovered Lynn Harper's body. here is an excerpt from his interview with the fifth estate:

MACINTYRE: You were there for 4 hours.

EDENS: Yeah.

MACINTYRE: Tell me about the footprint.

EDENS: I didn't notice it ... There was a kind of a smoothing in a little area in there which could've been a flattened from a footprint. But I never, never drew any conclusions.

MACINTYRE: Now when you were in court when Glen Sage testified...

EDENS: Yes.

MACINTYRE: What were you thinking?

EDENS: I thought he was a very perceptive man.

MACINTYRE: How so?

EDENS: Well he seemed to have seen more than I saw and he might be right but mind you again I was in a little bit of shock ... but he was very perceptive.