Okanagan man charged in drug-deal double homicide takes stand

A Naramata, B.C., man accused of killing brothers Carlos and Erick Fryer testified for a second straight day Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. 

Wade Cudmore, 35, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. The bodies of the Kamloops brothers were found on May 10, 2021, by a couple walking in a remote area around the Naramata Creek Forest Service Road, north of Penticton.

Co-accused Anthony Graham is also charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the case but remains at large. 

Cudmore's mother, Kathleen Richardson, was found dead in her Naramata home on June 9, 2021, by police investigating the Fryer homicides. Police said at the time the three deaths were likely connected to local crime and drug activity.

Cudmore was arrested and charged in the Fryer killings the day after his mother's body was discovered.

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. 

Cudmore testified he helped Graham process and sell drugs and, on a few occasions, was paid by Graham to drive bags of cash in the amounts of around $100,000 and $200,000 to a Richmond restaurant where he exchanged the money for drugs, including fentanyl.

On May 9, 2021, Cudmore said he and Graham left on a road trip in Graham's white Ford F-350 truck to buy a load of drugs from the Fryers.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard evidence of all the places Graham's truck had been driven that day based on data from an in-vehicle GPS tracker. 

Cudmore testified their first stop was an empty lot in Peachland, B.C., where Graham used a shovel to dig up a suitcase containing $400,000 in cash.

The two men smoked carfentanil and the marijuana concentrate known as "shatter," Cudmore said, before stopping at the Merritt Canadian Tire, where Graham fraudulently bought a shotgun using a firearms possession and acquisition licence (PAL) he had purchased from another man.

Cudmore testified that while in Merritt, Graham announced the meetup location was changed to Kamloops. The two continued to smoke drugs using a gravity bong throughout the day, he said.

After meeting the brothers at the Kamloops Walmart, Cudmore said both parties headed back toward Penticton to complete the deal, the brothers driving in a grey Chevrolet Cobalt sedan. 

Cudmore testified that the parties went to a place in the hills behind Naramata known as "the junction," but no one had scales to verify the weight of the drugs. Cudmore said Graham instructed him to drive the brothers' Cobalt containing the drugs to Cudmore's mother's house nearby to use the scale he had there.