A B.C. man convicted in the “gruesome” deaths of two brothers in a Naramata drug-related slaying denied involvement as B.C. Supreme Court heard sentencing submissions Nov. 18.
Wade William Cudmore, 35, was convicted in October of second-degree murder by a jury in the May 10, 2021 deaths of Erick and Carlo Fryer.
He told Justice Brenda Brown he was sorry the Kamloops brothers had been murdered and was sorry for their family.
“I had nothing to do with the murders,” he then said. “My story’s not going to change.”
Crown prosecutor Alexander Willms told Brown that Cudmore should serve a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 18 years.
“The murders occurred against the backdrop of a criminal enterprise,” he said, calling the killings “particularly savage.”
Defence lawyer Jordan Watt said that parole eligibility should be set at 12 years.
He stressed Cudmore, who was born in Burnaby and grew up in the Okanagan, would be under supervision for the rest of his life.
He pleaded not guilty after his arrest in June 2021.
Victim impact statements
The hearing began with victim impact statements from the brothers' family members.
“My heart is torn in a million pieces,” their mother, Jane Dela Paz, told the court through tears.
“I miss the word Mom. Nobody will call me Mom.”
Kaylee Fryer, Carlo’s wife and mother of his daughter, now five years old, said she will one day have to explain why the child’s father is not there.
“My daughter doesn’t get to know who her father really was,” she told the court via video. “How do you tell a child her father will never come back?”
“Someday I’ll have to tell my daughter what happened to her father and uncle,” she said.
Carlo’s passing has left her the sole provider for her child and traumatized her for life, the court heard.
Sister Cyperuz-Jade Fryer said Erick was her best friend and Carlo was devoted to his daughter.
“His love for his daughter was like nothing I have ever seen before,” she told the court. “He was full of so much love and pure emotion.”
She called Erick her “safe place.”
“I will miss my brother for longer than I got to know him.”
“There aren’t enough words to say what you took,” she said. “I am here to be the voice that you tried to silence.”
The killings
The Fryers' bodies were found by two hikers in a remote area near Naramata.
The court heard weapons found nearby were a modified shotgun, a hunting knife and a roofing hammer. A bloody glove was also found.
Cudmore’s DNA was found on the hammer.
Willms said the brothers died of shotgun wounds and blunt force trauma and sharp-force injuries.
The bodies were dragged into a steep ravine off a Naramata forest service road. Carlo was naked from the waist down.
Willms said Cudmore and co-accused Anthony Graham spent the next day disposing of evidence, including two vehicles, one of which belonged to one of the brothers.
Graham remains at large. He was last seen in May 2021.
As he denied involvement, Cudmore said selling drugs and hanging out with Graham was all he did wrong.
The ultimately fatal meeting with the brothers came after Graham had made efforts to facilitate a drug deal. One of the brothers had sent Graham a price list for $236,250 in drugs in encoded language.
Graham indicated in his message he was not acting alone.
And, Willms said, Cudmore and Graham had an active relationship involving drug dealing.
The day before the killings, the two had been together, Willms said. Graham had bought a pump-action shotgun.
The brothers arrived at the scene in a Chevy with a large quantity of drugs that was never recovered, Willms said.
At trial, the court heard of various vehicles connected with the slayings coming and going on the forestry road.
Willms said at trial that GPS data from a Ford F-350 had been in the exact area of the Fryers’ bodies for about 15 minutes early on the morning of May 10.
Cudmore and Graham had already had run-ins with police about drugs.
Willms said Cudmore was on parole at the time of the murders and banned from being in the driver’s seat of a vehicle and from possessing firearms after a drug trafficking conviction.
Willms said Cudmore had a high degree of moral culpability. He said if Brown accedes to the 18-year proposal, Cudmore would be eligible for parole on June 18, 2039.
Brown heard half of the 12 jurors had suggested sentence ranges from 10 to 15 years while the other six declined to suggest anything.
Brown will pass sentence on Nov. 19. Cudmore and Watt will appear by video, the court heard.
