Claims of gang ties and illegal drugs are unfolding at the trial of a Naramata man who denies he was behind two shocking murders in the quiet community.
Wade William Cudmore, 35, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the allegedly drug-related killing of Kamloops brothers Carlo and Erick Fryer in 2021.
The Fryers' bodies were found by two hikers in a remote area near Naramata in May of that year.
Cudmore has been in custody since his arrest shortly after. He appeared in BC Supreme Court Monday in Vancouver to officially plead not guilty at the outset of his jury trial.
Justice Brenda Brown opened proceedings by acknowledging the change of venue for this case, which originated in the Penticton Law Courts, then was moved to Kelowna and now will call the Lower Mainland home for the anticipated months-long trial.
She called it a decision for “administrative reasons,” with no other details.
Brown gave standard instructions to the jury, telling them to “approach this case with an open mind, one that is free from bias, prejudice, sympathy or partiality,” and told them to “avoid all media coverage of this case,” noting that Cudmore is presumed innocent at this time.
The jury will not be sequestered during the trial, but will be once the trial concludes for deliberation.
Crown counsellor Alex Willms started proceedings by providing an overview of what the jury can expect from the prosecution’s case.
Drug deal gone wrong?
Willms told the jury the Crown will be calling multiple witnesses in law enforcement, forensics and those with personal knowledge of the brothers to shed light on the end of Erick and Carlo’s lives, which started with a family barbecue in Kamloops on May 9.
He painted the following narrative, with the promise of corroborating evidence in the coming days of trial.
The Crown’s allegation is that on that night, the brothers interacted through a texting app with Cudmore’s co-accused Anthony Graham, who remains at large since the murder.
The Fryer brothers allegedly left Kamloops in Erick’s grey Chevrolet Cobalt, driven by Carlo, since Erick’s licence had been suspended.
Recovered text messages from Erick’s phone allegedly show messages discussing an illegal drug transaction of more than $230,000, with a street value of roughly $500,000.
The messages, according to the Crown, show that Erick was offered a $6,000 bonus for delivering the drugs all the way to the Penticton area.
Violent end
Blunt force injuries, stabbings and shotgun wounds are what killed the Fryer brothers, according to the Crown.
Near their bodies, on the other side of Naramata Forest Service Road on May 10, 2021, investigators found a shotgun, a knife and a roofing hammer, that Willms said DNA experts can link to Cudmore.
They also found a water bottle and items including a prescription bottle with Cudmore's name, among other items, some of which were located in a ditched Ford F-350 nearby that showed evidence of attempted arson.
The Crown will attempt to prove that Cudmore and his co-accused Graham purchased a shotgun in Merritt shortly before the event, which was found in that same F-350.
GPS data from the F-350, which ICBC records show belonged to Graham, the Crown claims, had been in the exact area of the Fryers’ bodies for approximately 15 minutes early in the morning of May 10.
Then, two white males, which the Crown contends were Cudmore and Graham, were seen on security footage at the Cudmore home in Naramata.
They later left, and further footage showed the F-350 and a grey Cobalt driving together up a different nearby forest service road, leading to where Erick Fryer’s Cobalt was found ditched.
The F-350 was spotted on cameras going back down the Naramata Forest Service Road before doing a U-turn near the scene of where police had already begun investigating the bodies of the Fryers — a move the Crown alleges was intentional once the pair of accused realized cops were there.
That F-350 was later found with evidence of attempted arson.
After his arrest in June, Cudmore told a person who called him in prison that he believed he was arrested “because I ran from the burning truck” and someone saw him.
“The trial is like a puzzle. Many witnesses you will hear from will be small pieces of the puzzle,” Willms told the jury.
“Other witnesses will be larger pieces,” he added, pointing to the DNA analyst in particular.
“It’s your job, a very important job, to determine whether the pieces of the puzzle that we present to you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Cudmore was guilty of first degree murder [of the Fryer brothers].”
Father’s recollection
The Crown’s first witness was Gordon Fryer, 55, Carlo and Erick’s father.
He testified that the family had a barbecue on May 9, 2021, and that his sons had headed out later that evening to meet someone in Kelowna, to his understanding, and that they had argued about it before they left.
The next day, he said, the family became alarmed after Carlo didn’t show up to pick up his child, and when both brothers were not answering their phones.
In the ensuing days, Gordon said, he saw on social media a photo of a car appearing to be Erick’s being towed out of the brush near Naramata, and also saw reports about two bodies being found in the area.
Gordon acknowledged his sons were not working in May 2021, and that he was paying a lot of bills for his son Carlo, but that Erick had disability cheques coming in that covered his portion of their shared rent and seemed to have other extra income.
“[Erick] always had money, he always had his own thing going on,” Gordon said, adding he never questioned where the money was coming from, assuming odd jobs.
He said before his licence suspension, Erick had been driving a lot, heading to different communities in the Interior and the Lower Mainland.
“At one point in time I asked him what he was [doing], he said well, he’s dropping off a car, this person needs a ride somewhere, he always had a reason when he’s gone and I never questioned it,” Gordon said.
“As far as I know personally, I’d never seen either boy deal drugs, or [heard] about them dealing drugs.”
Now, he wishes he had been more skeptical.
“[Erick] never once said he was doing anything illegal to me,” Gordon said.
“Looking now, looking into it, I should have, I should have asked a bunch of questions. But I didn’t.”
Alleged gang ties
Defence attorneys brought up the infamous Red Scorpions gang, asking Gordon whether he is familiar with their activities in the drug trade and their violent history in British Columbia.
Gordon said that he learned from authorities only after Erick’s death that his son had alleged ties to Erwin Dagle and Kyle Latimer, high-profile Red Scorpion gangsters in Kamloops.
“I go every day knowing I could have stopped something or said something,” Gordon said, his voice rising with emotion.
“I lost two kids over [drugs and] gang-related sh*t.”
Gordon said he does not believe Carlo was wrapped up in the drug trade to the same extent as Erick possibly was, but instead may have been helping his brother out that night with a ride.
Court concluded Monday with brief testimony from Carlo’s ex-wife, who echoed the sentiment that, in her opinion, Carlo had a tendency to get in trouble with his brother.
The invocation of alleged gang ties is ostensibly related to the murder of Cudmore’s mother shortly after his arrest.
Fifty-seven-year-old Kathy Richardson was found killed in her Naramata home — the same home the Crown says Cudmore and Graham in the early morning hours of May 10 — one month after the Fryers’ bodies were found.
Two Lower Mainland alleged gangsters, Ekene Anigbo, 24, and Jalen Falk, 24, are charged with her murder.
Cudmore is in custody for the duration of his trial, which is expected to continue throughout the summer.
