B.C. man found guilty in double homicide of Kamloops brothers
CBC
A jury has found a Naramata, B.C., man guilty on two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of two brothers in the B.C. Interior.
Wade Cudmore, 35, was one of two men accused in the May 2021 drug deal killings of Kamloops, B.C., brothers Erick and Carlo Fryer.
Their bodies were found shot, stabbed and beaten in the head near a forest service road not far from a house Cudmore shared with his mother.
The 12-person jury returned the guilty verdict after deliberating over four days. While Cudmore was initially charged with first-degree murder, he was found guilty on the lesser charge of second-degree murder.
Cudmore's co-accused Anthony Graham was also charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the case, but remains at large.
Cudmore testified in his own defence during the 60-plus day trial in B.C. Supreme Court, telling the jury that Graham was solely responsible for the murders.
The Naramata man testified he and Graham went in on a $400,000 deal to buy carfentinil, cocaine and crystal meth from the Fryers.
He said he was at his mother's house in Naramata weighing the drugs when Graham killed the brothers.
During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Kelly Johnston suggested to the court that Cudmore and Graham conspired to lure the Fryers to the remote location with intentions of stealing the drugs.
"You and Mr. Graham drove to the Naramata forest service road, and when you stopped, Erick and Carlo Fryer pulled their vehicle behind yours," said Johnston.
"When you got out, you and Mr. Graham rushed the two brothers and you struck Carlo Fryer in the skull with a roofing hammer."
Under questioning by defence counsel Jordan Watt, Cudmore described how his own drug use led to his involvement in Graham's drug operation. He said he knew Graham from his youth and had played hockey against him.
The bodies of the Fryers were found on May 10, 2021, by a couple out walking.
One month later, Cudmore's mother, Kathleen Richardson, was found dead in her Naramata home by police investigating the Fryer homicides.
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