Man accused of murder hoped police in New Brunswick would explain cousin’s death

MIRAMICHI, N.B. – After his arrest, a man accused of murder says he became emotional as he spoke to his father because it was difficult to tell him that he knew the location of his cousin’s body.

In his second day of testimony today, Curtis Bonnell says he led police in New Brunswick to where Hilary Bonnell’s body was on Nov. 9, 2009, a day after he was arrested.

He thought police would be able to tell him what happened to Hilary.

The 32-year-old man has pleaded not guilty in the Court of Queen’s Bench to first-degree murder in the death of his 16-year-old cousin.

Bonnell has told his trial in Miramichi that he woke up on Sept. 5, 2009, after a night of drinking alcohol and doing drugs to find Hilary dead next to him in his pickup truck.

Bonnell testified yesterday that he began drinking at his home on the Esgenoopetitj (Es-geh-no-peh-titch) First Nation in northern New Brunswick and moved to a bar in nearby Neguac where he snorted cocaine.

He says he left Hilary’s body next to a tree in the woods.