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Another partygoer, a young woman, saw Ms. Paquette leave and also chased after her, repeatedly trying to persuade her to calm down or at least sit in her car until she cooled off. But Ms. Paquette refused to listen and kept walking.

She also called her parents, who were themselves hosting a party, to wish them a happy New Year. When she told her father she was walking home to her new house in Courtright, about 25 kilometres out of town, he told her to take a cab, and in a later conversation, she told him she would.

After 2:30 a.m., her cell was either turned off or the battery went dead.

Included in the court material is security camera footage showing Ms. Paquette on her final journey.

At some point, it’s alleged, she encountered Michael MacGregor, then 19, and Tanya Bogdanovich, then 31.

They are now charged with first-degree murder in connection with the confinement, sexual assault and murder of Ms. Paquette on Jan. 1, 2013.

As a frantic search by family and friends went on through those early-morning hours and into the first day of the new year, Ms. Paquette was formally reported missing. Police and members of the public were in the midst of conducting a careful ground search the next day when Ms. Paquette’s body was discovered in a secluded woodlot.

Ms. Bogdanovich and Mr. MacGregor were arrested on Jan. 3.

He is represented by a lawyer named Harold Doan.

But prior to Jan. 14, 2014, Mr. Doan also represented Brian Lemmon, who for a time shared a cell with Mr. MacGregor, helped him exchange “hundred of letters” with Ms. Bogdanovich via her cellmate, and who ultimately approached prosecutors with an offer of co-operation.

As a result, Mr. Lemmon could become a witness at trial, and that, prosecutors say, could place Mr. Doan in a “possible conflict of interest.”

Prosecutors sought to ban and have sealed the facts and documents supporting their application.

The matter of removing defence counsel was argued only recently, and Judge Thomas has reserved his decision.

Postmedia News

cblatchford@postmedia.com