RCMP forensic analyst showed the jury photos of the crime scene at Maffeo Sutton Park the morning after 29-year-old Fred Parsons was stabbed to death. Two Nanaimo men are currently on trial facing manslaughter charges in relation to Parsons death. (File Photo)

By Jordan Davidson

forensic analysis

Blood-stained clothing & butterfly knife found on accused after downtown Nanaimo stabbing

Jul 23, 2024 | 5:28 PM

NANAIMO — An RCMP forensic analyst took the stand on the second day of a trial of two local men accused of manslaughter.

Proceedings against Mark Jayden Harrison, 21, and co-accused Aiden Matthew William Bell, 20, began Monday and continued Tuesday, July 23, in B.C. Supreme Court, with the pair charged in connection to the stabbing death of 29-year-old Fred Parsons in September 2022.

Cpl. Rennard Jo with the Nanaimo RCMP Forensic Identification Services spent time on the witness stand Tuesday, detailing his interactions with the accused and items seized from the scene related to the investigation.

The jury was shown photographs from the playground in the northeast corner of Maffeo Sutton Park taken the morning after the incident, including where Parsons’ body was found.

A pair of slipper-style shoes, a cup, ripped-up clothing, and a wood-handled folding knife were located at the scene.

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Both the clothing and the knife contained traces of human blood, after being tested by Jo, with the clothing being described as “saturated with blood.”

Other items found the night of the incident outside of Harbour Air Nanaimo at 90 Front St., included an almost half-empty bottle of bear spray, and a Swiss-brand bag containing a small box cutter, a vape pen, and a wallet containing the ID of Harrison.

Jo said he was unable to get fingerprints from the wood-handled knife or the can of bear spray.

The area of the playground of Maffeo Sutton Park where the body of Fred Parsons was discovered, along with a wooden handled folding knife, a cup and lid, and slashed articles of clothing with blood stains. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Suspect clothing
Jo testified he was called to the Nanaimo Detachment around 1 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2022, just hours after the body of Fred Parsons was located inside the playground.

With his field of expertise in detecting blood and fingerprints, Jo conducted a physical examination on Bell, Harrison, and the 17-year-old boy, who was also arrested the same night but later released without charges.

Jo told Crown Prosecutor Nick Barber Bell was wearing a light-coloured jacket, with several dark stains located on the front, on a sleeve and in the hood.

Those spots were tested by Jo and were confirmed as “presumptive positive” for human blood.

A butterfly knife found on Bell was also examined, but no blood was found.

Jo noted Bell also had a “small cut or injury to his right thumb” along with an “abrasion on the right side of his forehead.”

A search of Harrison’s person and clothing revealed no positive reactions for blood.

Two days later, police executed a search warrant on a Centre St. home in Nanaimo where Harrison and his girlfriend were living at the time.

Items seized include clothing and a knife located under the bed in what’s believed to be Harrison’s bedroom.

The trial continues on Wednesday, July 24.

Fred Parsons was 29 years old when he was stabbed during a late night encounter at Maffeo Sutton Park in September 2022. (submitted photo)

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