Note found in accused’s fridge contained PINs to Eduardo Balaquit’s bank cards, jury hears

One day after the Winnipeg Police Service initially arrested Kyle Alexander Pietz on the June 4, 2018, in connection with the disappearance of Eduardo Balaquit, officers searched Pietz’s home, a Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench jury was told.

Const. Susan Desender, an exhibits officer with the WPS’s forensic identification unit, testified Tuesday that on June 6, 2018, officers found a 7-Eleven bag in the fridge with a Post-It note stuck to the bottom.

“What’s written on the top of that sticky note?” Brent Davidson, a Crown attorney, asked Desender.

“It’s a yellow sticky note with a little strip across the back and on the top in black ink is numbers,” Desender testified.

Numbers the jury heard matched the personal identification numbers or PINs Balaquit’s wife previously testified her husband used for his bankcards.

“At the time you photographed the exhibit, were you aware that those were the same numbers that Ms. Balaquit told us were Eduardo’s PINs?” Davidson asked.

“No, I was not,” Desender told the court.

Court has previously heard a suspect, who successfully withdrew $700 in cash from Balaquit’s account at an ATM at a 7-Eleven store on Ellice Avenue at around 12:30 a.m. on June 5, 2018, was wearing a red hoodie. A suspect the jury heard Pietz’s sister identified as her brother Kyle.

“On the back of the Post-It note, on the sticky portion, are what appears to be red fibres stuck and attached to the sticky portion,” Desender told the jury.

Desender testified officers also located a black Westcon t-shirt in the washing machine in Pietz’s basement.

“It was damp and appeared to be freshly washed,” the officer told the court.

Court has previously heard Pietz quit his job at Westcon Equipment and Rentals weeks before Balaquit vanished after leaving to go clean the business.

During cross-examination by Pietz’s lawyers, court heard forensic officers looked for blood during their search of Pietz’s vehicle, a blue Ford Escape, but none of the samples tested were analyzed as positive. And Desender testified no swabs taken for DNA matched samples obtained from a toothbrush that belonged to Balaquit.

“There was no direct hit to Mr. Balaquit,” Desender testified. “There was human DNA but not enough to process.”

Desender testified the Ford Escape usually comes equipped with a trunk liner but the officer told the jury police didn’t find one

“The rear trunk area of the Ford Escape, the trunk liner was missing and the following items were exposed: you could see the spare tire, the jumper cables, the ratchet straps and the rubber bungee cord,” Desender told the court. “And the interior surfaces of the escape, including the carpeted back of the rear seat and the rear hatch plastic panels, were dirty and dusty but the exposed items inside the rear trunk area were clean.”

In addition to searching Pietz’s vehicle and home, the jury heard officers also searched for evidence at Westcon.

When asked by Pietz’s lawyer if there was any evidence of violence, Desender told the jury police found no signs of a bloodletting event and no broken glass or broken furniture.

The Crown has alleged Balaquit was killed during a robbery. His body has not been found.

Pietz has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and is presumed innocent.

The trial continues.