Wednesday's testimony at a Yukon Supreme Court murder trial focused on the early days of the investigation into what was originally a suspicious death at a fire in Ibex Valley.

That blaze eventually led to first-degree murder charges against Norman Larue, whose lengthy trial is underway.

Cpl. Kirk Gale of the Whitehorse RCMP was assigned to manage items collected during the investigation.

The 20-year-veteran officer spent much of his time on the stand Wednesday identifying a long list of things seized by police.

The jury has already heard about some of them. Those include rifles and a bat, with what appears to be blood, seized from a nearby rest stop dumpster.

Others, like a knife, have yet to be put into any context.

Prosecutors are alleging Larue, along with his fiancée, Christina Asp, beat 63-year-old Gordon Seybold inside his cabin before burning it to the ground.

The pair was the target of a complex undercover police investigation during which they were led to believe they had been accepted into a powerful Mafia-style gang.

The court has already heard a recording of Larue telling an undercover officer about his role in Seybold's death. His lawyer says he was lying.

Gale told the jury he arrived at the scene of the fire north of Whitehorse the day human remains were discovered in the rubble of Seybold's burned-down log cabin.

The jury has already heard that the remains were almost destroyed in the fire, leaving officers like Gale to collect the small pieces of bone they could find.

Early in the investigation, Gale also seized part of a tree found at the scene.

First responders have testified to finding the spruce laying across the entrance to the property when they arrived at the fire scene.

Gale told the jury that investigators believed the tree had been hit by a vehicle leaving the scene at the time of the fire.

About nine days after collecting the tree, an officer with the forensic identification unit gave Gale a sample of a green substance taken from the tree to keep as evidence, he said.

During cross-examination, Gale held the pieces of the tree and agreed he could not see any of that green substance on the bark.

Larue's lawyer, Ray Dieno, pointed out the officer had no way of knowing how long that tree had been knocked over nor how long Seybold had been inside his house.

Gale confirmed that during the investigation, people came forward with concerns over the heating system in Seybold's home.

Also in his testimony, the officer spoke about selling a green Jimmy vehicle around December 2007 to a woman named Jessie Asp.

Gale said he bought the vehicle at an RCMP auction — it had been previously used as an unmarked police vehicle — and sold it not long after.

In an April 2008 briefing with investigators, Jessie Asp's name came up, and Gale remembered selling the vehicle, he said.

The officer testified he went to Jessie Asp's home and was able to spot "significant damage” to the vehicle's back end.

That damage was not there when he sold the Jimmy, he said.

During cross-examination, Gale admitted he doesn't know the history of the vehicle between when he sold it and when he saw it again in April 2008.

Gale's cross-examination finished this morning.

The trial itself is expected to last three months. There are about 50 people named on the witness list.�