A Saskatoon court heard Wednesday how Douglas Hales confessed to an undercover police officer in August 2008 to the murder of Daleen Bosse.
Hales also told the officer he had disposed of the woman’s body in a remote area outside the city.
Court also heard Hales would later lead police to Bosse’s remains.
Hales’ head was down and his neck flushed as an undercover RCMP officer gave testimony.
Over a period of a few months beginning in May of that year, undercover officers had gained his trust by posing as part of a fictitious criminal organization.
The undercover officer, who cannot be named because of a publication ban, told the court of how the operation gradually gained Hales’ confidence by including him in a number of bogus criminal activities.
Some of the jobs included repossessing cars and transporting packages of fake guns, diamonds and credit cards.
The officer testified Hales was paid cash and given a car for services which took him to cities all over the country.
However, defence lawyer Bob Hrycan questioned the legitimacy of the murder confession.
He painted a picture of Hales as an unsophisticated man lured in by the promise of easy money and willing to say or do anything to be accepted by his superiors.
Hales is on trial for first-degree murder of the 25-year-old Bosse.
She was originally from the Onion Lake Cree Nation and was a university student at the time of her disappearance in 2004.