Fred Prosser is charged with first-degree murder in the 2010 death of Sabrina Patterson. (CBC)

RCMP officers were questioned Monday about why they didn't find some of the evidence in the 2010 death of Sabrina Patterson for seven months.

All three officers told the Moncton courtroom they were following orders to search only the inside of Fred Prosser's family home, two garages and two sheds on the dark, cold and rainy Nov. 7; not the outside.

Last week, the court heard that a subsequent search of the property in June 2011 turned up a cooler outside a garage, which contained a jacket with the name Sabrina on the arm, an open purse and a pair of sneakers.

Prosser, 33, of Shenstone, is charged with first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and sexual assault in the death of Patterson, his ex-girlfriend.

Patterson, a 25-year-old mother of two from Riverview, went missing on Oct. 29, 2010. Her body was discovered eight days later in a wooded area near Shenstone.

The Crown alleges Prosser sexually assaulted Patterson and strangled her to death.

Const. Damien Thériault was one of several officers called in to execute the search warrant at the Prosser home. They were looking for a jacket with Patterson's name on it, women's footwear, a black purse, and a cellphone,he said.

Thériault told the courtroom he searched the two garages and two sheds, but found nothing.

Asked why he only searched the inside of the buildings, he replied that was what he was told to do.

Thériault said it was his first search in years, but insisted he was trained to do so.

Cpl. Joseph Comfort, who worked with Thériault, said he also stuck to the inside of the structures, as instructed.

Comfort's last search was in 1998, the courtroom heard.

Dog handler Sgt. Pierre Gardner, whose dog Bruno is trained to find human scent, testified he did not search the property itself because it was already covered with the scent of officers.

He searched the perimeter of the property instead and found nothing, he said.

Swabs, bug samples taken during autopsy

Sabrina Patterson's body was found in a remote wooded area in Shenstone on Nov. 6, 2010. (Submitted)

The court also heard from RCMP Const. Dave Morrissey, who attended Patterson's autopsy in Saint John on Nov. 7.

He said the pathologist removed a green garbage bag from Patterson's body, along with black sweat pants, a bra, two hairs, fingernail clippings and a blood sample.

Several swabs were also taken from various parts of Patterson's body, including her mouth, hands and socks, Morrissey said, as members of her family cried.

In addition, a biologist took insect samples from the bag Patterson's body was transported in to try to determine a time of death, the officer said.

The autopsy took nearly four hours to complete, Morrissey said.

A coroner is expected to testify on Tuesday and explain the test results.

Searchers found body

The Moncton courtroom also heard Monday about the day Patterson's body was found — Nov. 6, 2010.

RCMP Const. André Royer testified about being approached by a man in a blue pickup truck outside of Prosser's home, where officers were about to execute a search warrant.

Anthony Terris told police he had found what they were looking for and took them to Shaw Road, a narrow, isolated dirt road about 20 minutes away, where Patterson's body was lying on the ground in the woods, the officer said.

When they arrived at the scene, six members of a search party were there. The officer said he asked them to leave, then called in other officers.

Prosser and Patterson had an on-again, off-again relationship for about nine years.

Last week, the jury heard from witnesses who said Prosser was crying at work the day after Patterson went missing.

Four people also testified about having heard Prosser talk about harming Patterson.

Five weeks have been set aside for the trial. The Crown expects to call about 40 witnesses.