deadmonton - the trial of michael white - november 23rd, 2006
Liana White, 29, was stabbed to death July 12th, 2005.
Michael White, then 28, was charged with second-degree murder and offering an indignity to a dead body.
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The trial resumed with the jury viewing the remainder of a video that began the day before.
Det. Ernie Schrieber remained on the stand as the tape played showing an interview he conducted with Michael White on July 12th – the day Liana was reported missing.
The long video session, the first of three, began with Schreiber asking general questions about family routines in the time before Liana disappeared.
Without warning, Schreiber abruptly changes the subject and asks White, "Are you involved in Liana White's disappearance?"
There is a pause before White answers the question, his first two words of denial sounding quiet, hesitant and uncertain. There are long pauses between his responses.
“No, no. How could you ask me that?”
“Uh no. I love my wife. There’s no way I could ever hurt her or anyone else."
Schreiber starts to ask a question but White cuts him off.
"I've got a question now. Am I now a suspect?"
Schreiber replied he was just like a sponge and wanted to get as much information as possible.
After a few questions of a general nature, White recounts his military experience and returns to talking about his feelings toward Liana.
“I love my family. I’d die for ‘em. And if I could, I’d put myself in her damn shoes. I would in a heartbeat.”
“I loved her – I still love her. I’m talking in the past tense now. All day I’ve been thinking that.”
On the tape White talked about the couple’s three-year-old daughter, Ashley, and broke down in tears.
“What the hell do I tell her? How do I do that? I’m not strong that way ... I can't raise her myself. I can't do this myself. I can't be frigging strong for the mother of my kid.”
"I can't live without (Liana). I can't ... . She takes care of the house, all the bills. I don't know how to do that."
Media cameras were allowed in the courtroom to capture footage from a monitor showing the police interview.
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As he did with Det. Roberston, White asked Schrieber what police were going to do and what leads investigators had in the case.
"Is she hurt? Is she not hurt ... I just want to know ... it's killing me. I don't know what to do. I'm scared to death on this now. I can't live without her."
He asked what the police had discovered, if there had been any bootprints or drag marks found. He said he wanted to help – he hated being left out of the work to find his missing wife.
White was heard insisting on helping in their search.
"Give me a frigging stick and a frigging magnifier. I just want to help."
Michael White then tells Schreiber he wanted to leave the police station. He also said he didn't want to talk to the media.
However, the next day – July 13th – White stood on his driveway and gave the first of two public appeals within hours of each other, asking for help in locating his wife.
It was the second interview, done by CTV Edmonton, that caught the attention of police (a fact glossed over by competing media in their coverage of the trial).
Schreiber told the jury he was surprised, especially when White told the CTV reporter: "Liana, just stay where you are. I'll come and get you."
Coupled with his assessment of the footage taken by the Richard's Pub security camera, Schrieber told the court he began to prepare for a second interview.
For the police, Michael White had become their prime suspect.
On July 14th, White was told he was considered a suspect in connection with Liana's disappearance.
Schreiber tells White they can't rule him out as a suspect in a missing persons case that involves a spouse.
"If I'm the prime suspect, just tell me. I need to know."
"You know, when someone asks if you are responsible, it's like an absolute kick to the chest ... like I'm already hurting."
The next day White was told the matter was being classed as a criminal investigation.
Jurors then saw tape of the second police interview, conducted July 15th.
White was heard telling Schreiber where he had been searching.
He told the officer he hoped it was a case of Liana having amnesia – and that she was on a plane or bus somewhere.
White admitted he had discussed the possibility that Liana could be dead with family members.
Schreiber told White anything could be possible – recounting that a psychic had called police to saying Liana was in Maryland, and that a man had phoned that a woman on a flight from Edmonton to Abbottsford, B.C. looked like Liana.
White complained he had been compared by the media to Scott Peterson, the California man convicted of killing his pregnant wife after she was reported missing.
At one point Schreiber briefly left the interview room.
White paced the room, mumbling, "Oh God, just find her, just find her. Have to find her. We've got to find her. Find her. Find her. Find her."
Throughout the interviews, White remained complaint, signing a document that he understood he was a suspect in a homicide investigation. He also signed and agreed to give police full access to his home.
White said if he didn't give permission that was like saying a person is guilty.
Schreiber then told White there was a good chance he could be charged with that homicide.
The trial continued November 24th, 2006
Note:
On October 19th, 2006 Michael White's legal counsel advised the media that statements which appeared in earlier published reports, that a search party led by White found Liana White's body, were not accurate and that Michael White states that he did not lead the search team that found Liana's body.