The manager of the motel where Mark Lundy stayed on the night he allegedly travelled home to kill his wife and daughter said the defendant looked "well" when he checked out.
The Crown says Lundy checked into the Foreshore Motor Lodge in Petone on August 29, 2000 and in the early hours of the following morning drove home to commit the two murders.
Motel manager Bruce Sloane confirmed Lundy - one of three people staying there that night - checked out at 8.09am on August 30 and made no phone calls during his stay.
According to the Crown, the killings would have happened several hours earlier.
Mr Sloane described the defendant as "a big chap, with quite a big stomach" and said he "appeared to be well" when he left.
Another patron of the motel Cecil Taylor, a cigar salesman, noticed a blue Ford Fairmont parked outside the motel with "Palmerston North" written under the number plate.
"I just thought he wasn't far from home. I would've thought it'd be a comfortable drive to and from Wellington," he said.
Mr Taylor left the motel about 5.30pm and when he returned four hours later the car was gone.
The Crown's new theory is that rather than speeding back to Palmerston North to kill Christine Lundy and 7-year-old Amber about 7pm on August 29, the murders took place in the early hours of the following day.
The court will today continue to hear from Wellington witnesses who spoke to Lundy through his work as a kitchen-sink salesman on the two days he was there.
Also giving evidence will be a prostitute who was hired by the defendant on the night of August 29.
There is a court order suppressing her identity, which is expected to continue.
The trial before Justice Simon France is expected to last nine weeks.
By Rob Kidd of NZME. News Service
