Brad Southwind admitted to killing his best friend when he was questioned by an Ontario Provincial Police investigator the morning after his arrest on August 20, 2018.
His admission that Joseph Topping stabbed was videotaped and reproduced Thursday in his first-degree murder trial.
The interview was conducted by the Det. Sgt. Caley O’Neill, based in Orillia, is in the behavioral science analysis section and a member of the OPP’s forensic interview team.
Southwind told the officer he stabbed Topping because “I interpreted that Joseph wanted to die.”
When asked what made him think Joseph wanted him to touch his life, he replied that Topping said he was sick and did not want to go to the hospital.
“I was giving up life,” Southwind told the officer. “I was without medication. It’s very difficult to explain. You wouldn’t understand.”
Southwind said he didn’t know how many times he stabbed Topping.
The body of the 31-year-old victim was discovered on February 14, 2018 in a wooded swampy area behind his apartment building in Elliot Lake.
Southwind, 27, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
At the beginning of the interview, O’Neill told the defendant that it is important to understand why this happened.
“You’re a boy and you’re upset about what happened to Joseph.”
There must be a reason, and “this is the opportunity to explain,” the 21-year-old official said.
“I find it hard to think this is all Brad’s fault,” he told Southwind. “I want to know what happened so people don’t get the wrong idea about you.”
Southwind initially didn’t respond, then said they were drinking, Topping was joking and then got serious.
He said he had no medication, that he did not want to go to the hospital and “then I lost him,” the defendant said.
“That doesn’t explain why he ended up in the woods,” O’Neill said, suggesting something must have happened between the two men.
“Why did Joseph have to die?” asked the officer.
“I really don’t know,” Southwind replied.
“All sorts of crazy things are happening,” he said. “We were doing … drugging myself. My understanding was that I wanted to die and I really wish I was here. I can’t get it back.”
Topping was talking about stupid things like playing Russian roulette with a shotgun and “always hinting at suicide,” Southwind said, indicating that he hadn’t taken his medication either.
“It’s like he has a death wish. Joseph was tired of living.”
Nearly two hours after the interview, a crying Southwind told O’Neill, “I stabbed him.” and “I’m so sorry.”
When asked what had happened to the knife, he replied, “I don’t know I threw it away.”
He described it as “just a normal knife with a black handle.”
At the end of the two-and-a-half-hour interview, which took place at the OPP detachment in Blind River, Southwind wrote a letter to apologize to his friend’s mother, according to jurors.
After the court watched the video, prosecutor David Didiodato asked O’Neill about the defendant’s requests during the interview to speak with his attorney.
The officer said Southwind had already spoken to the lawyer before the interview.
“There was no change in his danger to make it easier,” O’Neill said. “Nothing had changed. It was still the same charge.”
During cross-examination, defense attorney Don Orazietti pointed out to the officer that he had spent a lot of time at the beginning of the interview talking to Southwind about his rights.
Southwind “asked three, maybe four, times to talk to his lawyer,” Oraziett said. “What harm would it be to let him talk to his lawyer?”
O’Neill indicated he knew Southwind had spoken to his lawyer the day before his arrest.
“He had received advice from his lawyer. He was satisfied that he executed that right.”
It would be fair to say that Southwind refused to tell you what happened until about two hours after the interview and then capitulated, Orazietti asked.
O’Neill agreed.
“You wore it and you can see the writing on the wall,” the defense suggested.
The officer said it could be, but that was due to Southwind.
“How many times did you lie to him, get hooked or exaggerated?” Orazietti asked.
O’Neill said he had embellished some things and invented three theories that he suggested to Southwind as possible reasons why the murder happened.
He admitted that Southwind was crying throughout the interview.
“My interpretation is that he had remorse for what had happened between him and Joseph,” the officer said.
O’Neill has also acknowledged that he works in a specialized field, is convicted of serious crimes and has a degree in psychology.
“You have experience and a natural talent,” Orazietti suggested. “Clearly you have a gift for dealing with people one by one.”
O’Neill agreed.
Also Thursday, the Crown provided an agreed-upon statement of Topping’s mother’s facts to the court.
Irene Guerin indicated that she reported the disappearance of her son on January 8, 2018.
He stated that he knew Southwind, who was a friend of his son.
Guerin said it was a good friendship and said she personally saw nothing to indicate that Southwind wanted to turn against him.