Christopher Alexander Falconer considered pleading guilty to murdering Amber Kirwan to “save a lot of stress for everyone.”

On Monday, Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Pictou heard phone calls Falconer made to his father and stepmother from the Burnside Correctional Facility on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, 2011.

Falconer, 31, was admitted to the facility on Nov. 10, 2011 after being picked up for a parole violation. He wasn’t charged with first-degree murder in Kirwan’s death until May 2012. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Vince MacNamara, a security intelligence officer at the Burnside Correctional Centre, testified at the trial on Monday. He told the court an application to have Falconer’s phone conversations monitored and recorded was approved.

Two recordings were played in court, although they were difficult to hear at times. The 13-member jury followed along with a transcript of the phone calls.

Kirwan’s name came up in the call and Falconer’s stepmother, Sue Kelly, asked him if he had been charged in the case.

“I don’t know. Haven’t heard,” he replied.

Falconer then chatted with his father, Scott Falconer. He said things didn’t “look very good” and that he considered pleading guilty to save them the stress of a trial.

He also told his father that jail feels “like home” and that he was alone that night.

“Don’t do that…if you plead guilty that never goes away,” replied Scott Falconer.

“Don’t you give up on me…if you didn’t do it, don’t do that.”

Crown attorney Patrick Young said, if the exchange humanizes Falconer, the Crown doesn’t have a problem with that.

“He is a human being who’s charged with an offence, so the recording speaks for itself and, ultimately, it’s a matter for the jury to determine how much weight they put on it,” said Young.

The court heard another conversation between Falconer and his father from Nov. 17.

He told his father that “sometimes you have to do certain things” and that people thought he had something to do with Kirwan’s death. Scott Falconer told him some people thought he didn’t do it.

They also spoke of Falconer’s car, which had been returned to Scott Falconer after police searched it.

“They couldn’t have found anything in the car or I wouldn’t have gotten it back,” he told his son.

Falconer admitted there was “a lot of crap in it.”

Falconer’s stepsister, Alice Meier, also testified at the trial on Monday. She told the court her mother married Scott Falconer when Meier was around the age of two or three and that she and Chris Falconer went to school together and always got along.

She said they stayed close when their parents divorced about 10 years later and she still considered him her stepbrother. They eventually lost contact but she said their contact increased with the increasing popularity of cellphones and text messaging.

Meier, a stay-at-home mother with two children, told the court that Falconer would stay at her mobile home on the Hardwood Hill Road from time to time. She said she liked it when he stayed there because she was afraid of her ex-husband.

She testified that Falconer always stayed inside her mobile home, and never in the camper located on the property.

The camper was the subject of an extensive police search for six days in November 2011, after Kirwan’s body was found nearby in Heathbell, N.S.

Police allege Kirwan was held at the camper after she disappeared on Oct. 9, 2011. Forensics specialists testified last week that her DNA was found on items seized from the camper, including hairs taken from a headboard and pieces of duct tape. No DNA belonging to Falconer was found in the camper.

Meier, 31, testified that she never used the camper and no one ever stayed there. She said it was used simply for storing items, like recyclables and towels.

She told the court she sold the camper shortly after police completed their search.

The court heard that Meier, her boyfriend and two children went to a friend’s cottage on Caribou Island on Oct. 8, 2011. She said she spent the night at the cottage and texted Falconer the next morning, asking him to bring some beer.

She testified that Falconer arrived at the cottage with a friend, Owen Rafuse, around 1 p.m. She said he brought the beer but couldn’t remember what he was wearing, although she said he wore tank tops a lot.

The court heard text messages exchanged between Meier and Falconer the morning of Oct. 9, 2011.

“Hey girl, I was at your place last night. Got some stuff in your trailer. I'll be back for them later this morning,” said Falconer.

“You can leave it, whatever is there, if you have no place for it,” she replied.

Meier said he hadn’t asked to stay the night at her home, or asked to store things in her camper, but said he didn’t need to ask and that he was welcome to stay anytime.

She testified that she didn’t know Kirwan and, to her knowledge, she had never been on her property.

The court also heard text messages exchanged between Falconer and his friend Rosalie Dean, in which he told Dean that he went for a drive and spent the night at Meier’s.

He also told her he had found the “smoke” he had lost a few weeks prior.

“Came in handy with last night’s adventure,” he said.

Const. Ryan Leil was the last witness to testify at the trial on Monday. He interviewed Falconer in October 2011 before Kirwan’s body was found.

He said Falconer agreed to questioning, even though he wasn’t under arrest, and that he was polite.

The court heard the interview, which had been recorded. Leil is heard asking Falconer if he had anything to do with Kirwan’s disappearance.

Falconer said he didn’t, adding “it’s not my thing.”

Defence lawyer Mike Taylor said Monday was not a good day for the defence.

“Overall, no. I would say that it was more problematic than not, at least as it sits right now, and that could change as things develop, but with the evidence that was heard, was not positive for Mr. Falconer today, no,” said Taylor.

Kirwan disappeared in the early morning hours of Oct. 9, 2011. She was last seen leaving Dooly’s pool hall and bar in New Glasgow around 1:30 a.m. and heading towards Big Al’s, a convenience store located just up the street from the bar.

Kirwan’s boyfriend, Mason Campbell, previously testified that she was supposed to meet him at Big Al’s but she never showed up.

Her partly-decomposed body was found in a shallow, muddy grave in Heathbell, N.S. on Nov. 5, 2011.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh