It appears the Crown has gathered a large file of evidence against the Nova Scotia man accused of killing 19-year-old Amber Kirwan.
Today, the Crown provided the defence with the first of what is expected to be more than ten banker boxes full of evidence gathered in the case.
"You have to remember this seven-month long investigation started as a missing persons investigation, then morphed into a homicide investigation," explained Crown attorney Bill Gorman of the files. "You've got two major professional police forces that have been basically hunting and interviewing hundreds and hundreds of people."
Christopher Alexander Falconer, 29, of Heathbell has been charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder in Kirwan's disappearance and death. He made a brief court appearance in Pictou Monday afternoon.
"There's a lot of information to be reviewed before I have any idea what the Crown's case is against him," said defence lawyer Mike Taylor in court today. "So he's just taking a ‘wait-and-see' attitude at this point."
Falconer's court appearance comes a day after hundreds of Pictou County residents gathered in New Glasgow to take part in a Respect for Women March held in Kirwan's honour.
The teen disappeared over the Thanksgiving weekend in 2011 after she spent the night with friends at Dooly's pool hall in New Glasgow.
On the pool hall's surveillance video, she is seen leaving Dooly's around 1:30 a.m. on October 9 and making her way up the street towards Big Al's Convenience Store.
She had intended to meet her boyfriend at the store but she never showed up and an intense search for the teen began shortly after her disappearance.
For weeks, police, RCMP, divers and search crews scoured areas of Pictou County looking for clues. The community of Pictou County also got involved in the case and launched a massive campaign to find her, handing out thousands of posters nationwide.
Police eventually discovered Kirwan's remains on a logging trail, just off the Heathbell Road on November 5.
Falconer, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of cab driver Robert LeBlanc in 1998, was out on full parole at the time of Kirwan's murder.
Police seized his car and investigators spent more than a week gathering evidence at his stepsister's trailer home in Heathbell.
They arrested Falconer on November 9 on a parole violation and discovered drugs and a weapon in his possession. The parole board revoked his parole in January, saying he was a suspect in a major crime investigation, although they wouldn't say whether he was a suspect in the Kirwan case.
Falconer was officially charged in the case on May 16 at the medium-security Dorchester Institution in New Brunswick, where he was serving time for his parole violation.
Police arrested a woman along with Falconer, but later released her without charges. Police say they don't expect to lay any additional charges in the case.
Police will not say when, where or how Kirwan died or what led them to Falconer and Heathbell in the first place.
Falconer has been remanded to federal prison until his next scheduled court appearance on July 27.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh
