‘It wasn’t me’: Ontario man denies killing Tori Dunn in Surrey, B.C. home invasion

A Windsor, ON man has denied he killed Tori Dunn, 30, during a home invasion in Surrey, B.C. on June 16, 2024.

“It wasn’t me,” Adam Mann, 42, said Monday while testifying in his own defence at his second-degree murder trial in New Westminster Supreme Court.

Mann testified he was poor, homeless and living on the streets in June 2024, and stealing and using welfare cheques to pay for drugs and alcohol, which he used every day.

On June 16, Mann told the court he was riding the bus to meet a friend at Scott Road Station in Surrey, when he ended up “getting into a fight with some random guy” on board.

Mann thought the guy took his bag and said he threw a couple of punches at him before getting off the bus, because he was afraid somebody was going to call the cops on him.

After doing crack cocaine immediately after exiting the bus, Mann said he walked around in some random neighbourhood where he’d never been before “looking for a place to hide and another bus stop.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Mann testified he saw a knife and cell phone by the side of the road and picked them up briefly, before he heard sirens.

“The knife looked like it had blood on it, so I tossed it,” Mann said on the stand Monday.

He told the court he also tossed the grey hoodie and toque he’d been wearing, and the phone – thinking it might be stolen – before he was arrested.

Court has heard Dunn’s cell phone was missing from her home and later found in a greenspace near where Mann was arrested.

The trial also heard from a DNA expert who said testing of blood found on a large kitchen knife located on a neighbouring property was a match to Dunn’s known DNA sample, while Mann’s DNA matched one of three profiles found on the knife’s handle.

When asked about the “altercation on the bus over his bag” under cross-examination by Crown counsel, Mann admitted he may not have even had the bag with him on the bus, as it had been lost along the way.

Mann agreed when prosecutor Tim Livingston noted the industrial area at 96th Avenue and 192 Street where he got off the bus is approximately 2.5 kilometres away from Dunn’s home.

Mann also did not dispute that he was the man seen in several videos in Dunn’s neighbourhood – including one placing him in an area near her home at 9:37 p.m.

When asked why surveillance footage showed Mann taking off his hoodie an hour and a half after he got off the bus, he told the court, “I just remember wanting to change my description when I heard the sirens.”

“You wanted to change your description because you knew that you had stabbed someone?” Livingston suggested.

“No,” Mann answered, claiming he was still concerned police were coming for him for the bus altercation.

When pressed for more details on where he found the knife and phone, Mann testified he didn’t know which road the items were on.

“I don’t have a clue,” he said.

Mann was also unsure where he tossed the knife.

“You only held the knife for a few seconds; did you throw it up against that building?” Livingston asked, in reference to the location where police recovered the knife on a neighbour’s property.

“I don’t know where I threw it; I just tossed it,” Mann responded.

“Your DNA is on the (knife) handle because you had it in your hand when you stabbed Tori Dunn?” suggested Livingston.

“I didn’t stab Tori Dunn,” Mann replied. “I didn’t step foot in anyone’s home…or stab anyone.”

The prosecution’s theory is that Dunn was stabbed by an intruder in her own home, after she and her boyfriend returned from his family birthday dinner.

Trafford Wace has testified he was in the bathroom when he heard a loud scream from Dunn in the living room.

The Crown said Dunn was stabbed four times – including in the abdomen. She died in hospital.

Wace told the court he didn’t know the attacker, who was wearing a grey sweatshirt, dark-coloured toque and sweatpants.

Dunn’s boyfriend also testified he noticed his kitchen knife was gone after the suspect fled.

Prosecutors said Mann was found within half an hour and within one kilometre of Dunn’s home.

Mann, who was the only defence witness at his jury trial, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

Closing arguments are expected to be heard Weds. Oct. 21.