Masked men killed Taylor Samson, says William Sandeson in video played for jury

The jury in the first-degree murder trial of William Sandesonin Halifax has now heard two very different versions of what happened to Taylor Samson in August2015.

Both versions came from Sandeson himself, who's charged in the death of the university student. Samson's body has not been recovered.

The two accounts are contained in videotaped police interrogations, both of which have been played for the seven-man, seven-woman jury hearing the case in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

Intruder story

In the latest version, Sandeson tells a police interrogator that two men were in his apartment the night Samson came over to do a drug deal.

Sandeson saysthey had gotten in through his roommate's bedroomand they confronted Samson, who was sitting on a kitchen chair.

Sandeson tellsthe officer he thought the two men only intended to scare Samson. He said they were wearing full body costumes that obscured their faces.

At one point, Sandeson saysthe men told him to go into the bedroom and turn off his home security system.

"There was a gunshot," Sandeson tells the police officer. "I didn't see what happened. There was a lot of blood."

When he looked in the kitchen, Sandeson sayshe saw the two men stuffing Samson's body into a large duffel bag. Samson had earlier used that bag to bring ninekilogramsof marijuana to the apartment.

Sandeson saysthe two men left with the duffel bag carrying the body and the drugs. He tellsthe police officer he didn't see which way they went and he didn't follow them.

Instead, he started cleaning up the mess.

Long, emotionalinterrogation

This version of what happened to Samson came after a long, and at times,tortuous interrogation that lasted for more than six hours.

Sandeson is shown on the video sitting in a cramped interview room at police headquarters. The interrogating officer sits just inches from his face.

For most of the interrogation, Sandeson follows the advice from a duty legal aid lawyerand says nothing.

He begins sobbing as the police officer keeps up his quiet but relentless questioning. The sobs get louder and his breathing becomesragged as the questioning goes on.

At one point, Sandeson appearsto be hyperventilating and tellsthe officer he needsto lie down. When he eventually startsspeaking, it comes in fits and ispunctuated by loud sobs.

The officer doing most of the questioning expresses skepticism about Sandeson's version of events that night.

Stark contrast to previous statement

Sandeson's description of a two masked menis in stark contrast to his first statement to policemade the day before.

In that video statement, Sandesonsays Samson never showed up that night.He producestext messages he sent to Samson's phone to support that story.

But the police later usethose texts to challenge Sandeson, saying they appear to have been sent to help cover his tracks.

The police also shareevidence with Sandeson that they'd already collected from his apartment, including an imagefrom his own security system. That image shows Samson, with the large duffel bag, arriving at the apartment.

The police also showphotographs of what appearsto be blood stains in the apartment kitchen and bathroom, and a duffel bag full of blood-stained cash.

"You've got a bag of blood-covered money in your bedroom," the officer says to Sandeson at one point.

The video ends with the officer informing Sandeson he's to be charged with murder.

Blair Rhodes live bloggedfrom court.