The girlfriend of Nathan Marshall recounted the final hours before his death during tearful testimony Tuesday at Prince George courthouse on the second day of the first-degree murder trial of Anthony Willier.
Michelle Fulljames told the court she wasn't sure why she woke up during the early morning hours of Feb. 17, 2010, but she stepped outside and asked a friend who was in the house where Marshall was.
"And then, as soon as I said that, we heard gunshots go off," Fulljames sobbed. "And then I tried to run outside because I didn't really know what it was, but Jay and Kyle [a housemate and a friend] wouldn't let me.
"Nathan had pushed Kyle up the stairs, I guess, and took off out the door."
Marshall was found dead leaning against a fence in the front yard of the home, a duplex at 1790 Hemlock St. later that morning.
Fulljames opted not to call 9-1-1 because her parents had posted a surety for Marshall, who was out in bail on charges from a Jan. 4, 2010 invasion of a home in the 2600 block of Quince Street, and was afraid the money would be lost.
"I was hoping he would just come back," Fulljames said.
She spent the rest of the morning trying to reach Marshall on his cellphone.
When police and an ambulance passed by a few hours later, Fulljames was able to run outside and tell them her boyfriend was missing.
The jury expected to hear that a falling out from a few years prior and an outstanding led to the violence.
Fulljames shed some light on the relationship between the victim and the suspect, saying they appeared to be on good terms.
While in remand on the home invasion charges, Marshall asked Fulljames to see if Willier would provide money to pay for a lawyer.
Willier complied, Fulljames said, providing an amount that was not specified during questioning from Crown counsel Oleh Kuzma.
"They were friends as far as I knew, so I didn't feel uncomfortable going and asking him," Fulljames told the court.
Earlier in the morning before Marshall's death, said Fulljames, Marshall asked her to stop at a nearby pub near the friend's home "to grab some money off Anthony [Willier] for him."
When Fulljames arrived at the pub, Willier had not shown up and she soon returned home. Shortly afterwards, another friend left for the night and Fulljames went to bed.
"I tried to get Nate to come to bed but [he stayed up]," Fulljames said.
Fulljames and Marshall had been in a relationship for four to five months prior to his death.
Expected to last for two weeks, the trial before an eight-man, four-woman jury in Supreme Court, continues today.
