After Alicia Ross's boyfriend returned home from visiting the Markham, Ont., woman at her family's home, he called her and feared something was wrong when she didn't answer her phone, a jury heard Tuesday at the murder trial.

Alicia Ross, 25, went missing on Aug. 17, 2005.
(CBC)

Sean Hine testified via video link from Florida that he spent a "wonderful" evening with Ross on Aug. 16, 2005. The two drank wine, smoked a joint, played pool and finalized plans for a weekend trip, he told the jury.

Despite having dated the 25-year-old for only six weeks, Hine said their relationship was flourishing and they were making plans for the future. Asked whether he loved her, he responded, "Yes, I did."

Hine told the court he thought about spending the night, but ended up leaving around midnight.

As he pulled out of the driveway in his vehicle, Ross waved goodbye to him, said Hine.

He phoned her when he got home, Hine told the jury. But when Ross didn't answer, he became worried.

"I'll never forget … while I was falling asleep, I had a really bad feeling that something was wrong," Hine told the court.

Considered a 'person of interest'

Following Ross's disappearance in 2005, police considered Hine a "person of interest" until Daniel Sylvester turned himself in to police five weeks later. The second-degree murder trial of Sylvester began Monday.

Daniel Sylvester, 33, shown above in a court sketch, is charged with second-degree murder.
(John Mantha/CBC)

On the morning of Aug. 17, 2005, Hine said he returned to Ross's home and went into "panic mode" when he couldn't find her, even though her car was in the driveway.

Soon after a frantic search around her house, he called 911.

The jury heard Monday in the Crown's opening statement that Sylvester, her next-door neighbour, admitted to killing Ross in an unprovoked attack between their two homes shortly after her boyfriend left.

Video played the same day for the jury of eight women and four men shows Sylvester leading police through the wooded areas to where he left Ross's body.

The 33-year-old tells them he couldn't find some of her remains, which were discovered in two locations in Central Ontario.

Crown prosecutor Kelly Wright alleges an "exchange of words" between Sylvester and Ross on the night of Aug. 17, 2005, led to Sylvester attacking the woman.

Sylvester admitted to slapping Ross, pinning her down and then repeatedly slamming her head against the ground in an alleyway between their homes, the Crown says.

Jurors heard that Sylvester told police he dragged her body to his garage and drove it to a spot about 50 kilometres northeast of Markham, near Manila.

Three weeks later, he returned and moved her remains about 40 kilometres further north to another spot near Coboconk, the Crown says.