The DNA of accused Naramata killer Wade William Cudmore was found alongside DNA of one of the victims near the bodies' dump site, an RCMP forensic expert testified in B.C. Supreme Court Aug. 27.
The 35-year-old’s trial on two counts of first-degree murder is being heard by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Brenda Brown with a jury in Vancouver.
Crown prosecutor Alex Willms told Brown in his case opening that brothers Carlo Fryer and Erick Fryer died as a result of blunt force injuries, stabbings and shotgun wounds.
The bodies of the two B.C. brothers were found in a gully near a Naramata forest service road on May 10, 2021, an RCMP officer told the jury Aug. 19.
The court has heard a police officer had found Cudmore and co-accused Anthony Graham, who remains at large, with a Ford F-350 truck. Hidden on the truck’s frame were significant amounts of methamphetamine, fentanyl, carfentanyl and cocaine. Graham has an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Near their bodies, on the other side of the forest service road, investigators found a shotgun, a knife and a roofing hammer. Willms had told the court DNA experts could link the items to Cudmore.
The DNA expert
It was DNA expert Annabella Mosimann who linked the hammer to Cudmore.
The forensics lab scientist said the DNA was taken from the base of a hammer found above the ravine.
The hammer was held up during cross examination. It is about a foot long with a flat hammering surface, with a blade about four centimetres long on the other end of the head.
Mosimann said the DNA found was almost certainly from "WC" and Carlo Fryer. She said the DNA is nine billion times more likely to be Fryer’s than a random sample of the population and 5.6 billion for WC.
Another prosecutor, Nicole Gregoire, confirmed to Glacier Media that earlier court admissions identified WC as Cudmore.
Willms also said 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.
Willms said an autopsy toxicology report showed Carlo Fryer had cocaine in his system.
Aug. 27 was day 57 of 57 days of trial.
However, the Crown only rested its case on that day with the defence expected to begin its case Sept. 4.
The F-350 data
Cpl. Scott Nickel was the file manager on the case coordinating aspects of the investigation.
He testified to receiving a call on May 10, 2021, while working with RCMP E Division’s serious crime unit. That led him and another officer into the Interior and to the scene where he saw the bodies.
Nickel also said he became aware of a Ford F-350 possibly involved in the case.
On July 23, witness William Miller, a contractor, told the court he saw an F-350 and a smaller, light-coloured car moving fast on the Arawana forest service road not far from Naramata.
Miller said the vehicles were being driven erratically, and that something was not right about the situation.
He said he followed the vehicles to a gated area where he saw them stopped. The cars moved on as he approached.
He said he thought they were trying to dump the truck.
An F-350 was later found burned.
Nickel said the vehicle had a system in it which allowed tracking of its movements — information presented to the court on Aug. 16.
The system was removed from the vehicle and the data on it was downloaded. He said he used the data to drive the routes the truck had taken.
At one point, he said the truck stopped for three hours and 37 minutes on a road off the Coquihalla Highway, an area with nothing around.
RCMP Sgt. Kyle McStravick told the court on Aug. 16 he had compiled a report on the F-350’s movements as it travelled from Kelowna to Naramata via Penticton. The initial report indicated the vehicle had not stopped; the officer agreed.
However, under questioning by defence lawyers, McStravick agreed the report had been corrected to show there had been two stops on remote parts of the highway. He agreed doors of the vehicle had opened during those stops.
“I was unaware of the inaccuracies,” McStravick said.
An F-350 truck and drugs
RCMP Cpl. Terrence Jimmieson told the court he was called to Kelowna’s Sandman hotel on March 24, 2021, due to suspicious activity around an F-350 truck. It was reported as a possible robbery in progress.
He arrived to find two people under the vehicle, which was registered to Graham.
Jimmieson said he saw Graham come out from one side. He said Cudmore popped up from behind the truck.
He said a dispatcher informed him the vehicle was associated with drug trafficking and guns.
The officer told Graham he was being detained and the man tried to get away.
He was taken to the ground, an onlooker assisting until other officers arrived.
Cudmore took off but was later apprehended.
While Graham was being handcuffed, Jimmieson said, a bag of drugs fell out of Graham’s man purse. It turned out to be 22 grams of fentanyl.
When the truck was further examined, two cases were found attached to the underside with magnets. One alone contained 194 grams of methamphetamine. Also found were multiple gram amounts of fentanyl, carfentanyl and 78.8 grams of cocaine.
Jail phone calls
The Crown played audio of several June 2021 phone calls with a male and female voice respectively. It was admitted the voice was Cudmore.
“I ran from the burning truck,” he said at one point.
At another point, he said, “I know they don’t have anything on me because I wasn’t there.”
Cudmore sought but was refused bail and has been in custody since his arrest.
Cudmore’s mother
A month after the Fryer brothers were killed, Cudmore's mother, Kathy Richardson, was found dead in her Naramata home.
That led to the April 2023 arrest and charging of Ekene Dillichuwu Anigbo and Jalen Falk, both alleged to be Lower Mainland gang members.
They remain behind bars as they await trial.
