‘She was covered up in a tarp’: Saskatoon man tells police his garage was used to kill Megan Gallagher

WATCH: Court watched footage of a police interview on Tuesday in the trial of Roderick Sutherland, accused in the killing of Megan Gallagher.

A Saskatoon man on trial for manslaughter told police his garage was used in the killing of Megan Gallagher, according to a recorded interview played in court Tuesday.

Roderick Sutherland has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, unlawful confinement, and offering an indignity to human remains.

Sutherland came forward to RCMP in Rosthern, Sask. on Aug. 5, 2021 — nearly a year after Gallagher’s death — with information about the case.

Saskatoon Police Sgt. Anthony Boemsch, the lead homicide investigator at the time, drove to Rosthern to meet Sutherland.

In the video recording, Sutherland told Boemsch on Sept. 20, 2020, his friend Robert (Bobby) Thomas asked to use his garage to question someone.

Sutherland said ‘a bunch of people’ — including Gallagher — were with Thomas, going in and out of his garage on Weldon Avenue. Court heard some of those people were gang members.

“Do you know what their beef was with her?” Boemsch asked during the recorded interview.

“No, I have no idea,” Sutherland replied.

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Nine people have been charged in connection with Gallagher’s death. Sutherland, 47, is the last to stand trial. With the other cases now concluded, details of the homicide can now be reported.

Court heard Gallagher’s body was placed in a truck and thrown from a bridge near St. Louis, Sask.

In the police interview, Sutherland said things in the garage started off friendly.

“I went back in and she was tied up on a chair. I was like, ‘What the f--- you guys doing man?’” he told police.

Sutherland told investigators when he returned to the garage, Gallagher was dead.

“She was covered up in a tarp,” Sutherland said in the police interview.

“They left her there...I don’t know what to do.”

According to an agreed statement of facts, Ernest Whitehead and John Sanderson put Gallagher’s body in the back of Sanderson’s truck. Sutherland was not present when her body was moved.

Sutherland said he didn’t realize the woman was Gallagher until later, when he saw her missing-person pictures.

He told police he never saw any injuries on Gallagher or blood inside the garage.

Police reassure Sutherland’s safety

“Everybody thinks I’m a snitch now,” Sutherland said.

Boemsch can be heard in the video multiple times reassuring Sutherland.

“You’re not going to be charged with anything. You were put into a sh-- situation by a bunch of jerks,” Boemsch said.

“If you would have put your hand up and said, ‘Hey guys, this isn’t happening here,’ You would have been in the chair next.”

After the admissions Sutherland expressed concerns about his safety and asked where he should go.

“If you want to go find a safe place for yourself, by all means,” Boemsch said, and gave him his business card.

About 10 months after the police interview, on June 2, 2022, Sutherland was charged with offering an indignity to human remains.

Sutherland’s jury trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday at Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench.