Robert Olson likely suffered a minimum of 15 blows to his body before he died on Dec. 24, 2004.

A 12-member jury at the second-degree murder trial of Mark Lange and Dean Boucher was told by forensic pathologist Laurel Gray that Olson was found to have suffered five blows to his scalp.

The man also endured a minimum of seven blows to his face, two to his back and another injury to his neck which could have been caused by either a blow or squeezing motion, the Yukon Supreme Court was told this morning.

Gray, who is based in Vancouver, performed the autopsy on Olson's body on Dec. 30, 2004.

She testified the principal cause of death for the 64-year-old was determined to be a beating assault to the head.

Multiple facial lacerations, inhaling blood due to the numerous facial injuries, swelling of his brain, bruising to his back and fractures on the right side and just above the right side of his voice box were all found to have happened before his death.

'It is quite a localized injury,' the forensic pathologist said of the injury to the voice box.

It doesn't appear Olson was strangled. That would normally involve injuries to both sides of the neck.

The autopsy also revealed Olson had emphysema, a large heart caused by a degree of hypertension and a hardening of the coronary arteries, though she said she doesn't believe his pre-existing conditions would have affected his death.

There was also scavenging to his face. Alcohol was not detected in his blood, though she noted he may have been drinking earlier and had metabolized the alcohol before his death.

Many of the blows to Olson appear to have been consistent with kicking, though there may have also been punching, she said.

The crushing of Olson's cheek bone, for example, would have likely required a kick, Gray suggested.

'There may have been some stomping injuries (to his face),' she said.

It appeared all injuries happened within the same time frame, though under cross-examination by Boucher's lawyer, Keith Pakkari, Gray said she couldn't determine whether there was any break in the injuries.

It likely took about 10 minutes for Olson to die after suffering the injuries. He likely was unconscious with noisy breathing due to the blood in his lungs, and may have had some involuntary muscle movements due to the injuries.

Gray also noted under cross-examination by Lange's lawyer, Andre Roothman, that if there was a struggle, it would be expected blood would be on the clothes of others involved.

Lacerations to the face may have caused blood to spatter, but because of the scavenged face it was more difficult to read, court was told.

She also noted that it may not be known if medical intervention would have prevented his death. Her concern, she said, is the brain injury Olson suffered.

People with severe forms of such a injury rarely regain consciousness, she testified. Also, blood in a person's lungs can cause severe damage.

On Tuesday, the jury watched video tapes of interviews the RCMP did with Lange.

Before Lange turned himself in to the police, he spent two days drinking to try to forget about Olson's death.

'I thought about killing myself, too,' he told Sgt. Bradley Wirachowsky in an interview shortly after he turned himself in on Dec. 30, 2004.

Between tears, Lange told Wirachowsky a friend helped him get sober and then he decided to turn himself in. There had been a warrant issued for Lange's arrest on a charge of second-degree murder.

During the interview, Lange said Olson was beaten up so badly he couldn't make it on his own.

On Dec. 23, he and Boucher went to the bar at the Caribou Hotel in Carcross and were drinking.

Lange said he was talking to Olson, who he hadn't met before the fight.

Boucher wanted a piece of artwork off the wall, said Lange, and when Olson wouldn't give it to him, Boucher kicked Olson in the head.

Lange said he hit Olson during the altercation as well though it was more of a reaction to Olson.

When Boucher told him to hold Olson down, he did until Olson grabbed his face and he hit the hotel owner and also kicked him.

'I panicked,' he said.

After Olson began breathing in a strange fashion, mainly through his nose, which appeared to be broken, Boucher dragged Olson out through the back door. Lange then helped put Olson's legs into the truck.

'I didn't want this sót to happen,' he said, noting that Boucher had a knife and he didn't want to 'fó- around.'

When Lange asked Boucher where the hospital was, Boucher told him to keep driving. They drove toward Whitehorse, but when Lange stopped on the Carcross Road near Carcross Corner to check on Olson, they realized he was dead.

'I didn't think he would die,' said Lange.

Lange tried for a bit to do chest compressions, then Boucher tried, but couldn't revive him.

'That's when I just wanted to get away from there,' he said.

In the interview, Wirachowsky left the room, leaving Lange alone. Lange then said out loud: 'God, forgive me at least.'

He later wrote a letter of apology to Olson's family.

When Wirachowsky came back in the room, Lange went on to tell the officer that: 'The more I think about this, the more I think I got treated like a patsy.'

He noted matters leading to Olson's death started happening after he got drunk.

He also makes similar statements in other taped interviews with officers.

Police took him back to the Caribou Hotel later on Dec. 30.

There at a table in the bar, he had been sitting with Olson when Boucher came over and sat with them.

'I was just enjoying myself, chatting with the guy,' he said, noting by that point he was getting pretty loaded.

Boucher wanted a piece of artwork off the wall, but Olson said he couldn't have it.

'I don't know how one thing led to the next,' he said. It wasn't long after that when Boucher kicked Olson in the back of the head, he said.

Later in the fight, Lange said he tried to help Olson by holding him down, not only because Boucher told him to but also because Lange didn't know what his injuries were.

'You can see how the blood spattered everywhere,' he said inside the hotel.

When Olson grabbed his face, Lange said he reacted by punching and kicking him.

After Olson was lying on his back, breathing oddly and had been rolled to his side to recover, Boucher said he couldn't be left like that. They placed him in the back of the truck along with some of the artwork Boucher placed in the back.

They stopped on the way to Whitehorse and unsuccessfully attempted the chest compressions on the body.

'I wasn't thinking. I was pretty intoxicated,' Lange recalled inside the hotel.

They dumped Olson's body in Wolf Creek.

Though Lange wanted to get away from the situation, he said he couldn't get rid of Boucher for a couple of days.

He then laid low for a few days until he turned himself in, he told Const. Mike Buxton-Carr in a subsequent interview.

He felt a lot better coming in, he said.

In that interview, he also told Buxton-Carr that Boucher was threatening him after they covered the body and were driving away, he said.

Lange was driving but getting lost in the subdivision.

'Dean was yelling at me: You're a fóóup. You're a fóóup and I'm going to kill you!''

Boucher eventually forced Lange to the passenger's side and took the wheel until he got stuck. Then Lange began walking to McCrae.

They took a cab from McCrae to downtown, and Lange made his way to his friend's house.

He told some friends about what happened. They told him it would be better for him just to deal with it, and he eventually decided to come in when he knew police would be knocking on some friends' doors.

He repeatedly told police he didn't want to involve those friends in what happened.

He also said he was worried about his daughter and the daughter's mother.

The trial continued today.