Man who helped hide dead body gets two years

A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to two years custody after admitting to helping move and hide a murdered woman’s body inside a Manitoba Housing suite.

Charles Harold Wood, 39, was originally charged with being an accessory to murder in the June 2024 killing of 27-year-old Ashley Isabella Murdock but pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of performing an indignity to human remains.

Wood was one of seven people eventually arrested following the discovery of Murdock’s body, but is not accused of having any direct involvement in her killing.

Murdock had already been dead for two days when Wood and another man were enlisted to move her body — which had been stuffed inside a hockey bag at the Edmonton Street apartment block where it is believed she was killed — to a third-floor suite in another Manitoba Housing complex one block away on Kennedy Street.

“For some reason, he was brought in at the 13th hour to assist the primary offenders of a different gang in moving the deceased,” Crown attorney Daniel Chaput told provincial court Judge Julie Frederickson at a sentencing hearing March 10.

An autopsy confirmed Murdock died as the result of blunt force and sharp force injuries. Court was provided no details about what motivated the killing.

After killing Murdock, her “murderers and associates” cleaned the Edmonton Street suite, put her body in a large hockey bag and made plans to move her to another location, Chaput said.

Two days later, police responded to a 911 call reporting a possible dead body inside the Kennedy Street suite. Police found Murdock’s body in the hockey bag, hidden behind a kitchen pantry door that had been sealed shut with tape.

Police reviewed security video at the apartment complex that showed Wood and another man wheeling a wagon carrying the hockey bag to the back of the building before proceeding inside with another man. The video showed Wood leaving the building 20 minutes later.

Police arrested Wood on July 9. Wood told investigators he had never met Murdock and had no involvement in her killing.

Wood refused to identify who had summoned him to the Edmonton Street suite.

Wood “said he was initially unaware he had been called there to move a body… but subsequent to his arrival came to learn there was a body inside a hockey bag within the suite,” Chaput said. “He did not put the body in the bag — that is how he found it.”

Victim impact statements provided to court described Murdock as a woman with a “radiant smile and contagious laugh” who was determined to overcome her struggles with trauma and addiction.

“Your job was to literally take our family member, who we spent countless hours searching for, and move her body from one location to another,” Murdock’s aunt and two cousins wrote in a victim impact statement. “You must have known she was missing… but you knowingly participated in events to conceal and protect evil people. Her blood is on your hands.”

“You must have known she was missing… but you knowingly participated in events to conceal and protect evil people. Her blood is on your hands.”– a victim impact statement from Ashley Isabella Murdock’s aunt

The two-year sentence was jointly recommended by the Crown and defence in a plea bargain that took into consideration “triable issues” — including Wood’s knowledge of what was inside the hockey bag and his intoxication by methamphetamine and alcohol — that could have resulted in an acquittal had the case gone to trial, said defence lawyer John Corona.

“He was basically brought in because he’s a strong guy and he could roll the wagon,” Corona said.

Corona’s assertion that two years was “a significant sentence for Wood’s involvement” prompted an angry outburst from one of Murdock’s family members seated in the court gallery.

“Are you kidding me, man?” the man shouted. “She was stuck in a f—-ing hockey bag, dude!”

Five other people charged in the killing remain before the court.

“Mr. Wood is taking responsibility for what he did,” Corona said. “There is a lot left to be done in this case. I feel terrible for everybody in this file because they are going to have to go through this two or three more times.”

“Mr. Wood is taking responsibility for what he did. There is a lot left to be done in this case. I feel terrible for everybody in this file because they are going to have to go through this two or three more times.”– defence lawyer John Corona

Frederickson said she had “concerns” about the recommended sentence but, after a break to review the case law, agreed it was in the acceptable range for the offence. Frederickson credited Wood for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to just under 16 months.

Dregus Daniel Young, 24, and Kenneth Walter Young, 28, have been charged with first-degree murder in Murdock’s killing, while Devon Charlie Colomb, 26, has been charged with accessory to murder. Co-accused Summer Patchinose has been charged with performing an indignity to human remains, as has Eternity McCallum, who faces additional charges of assault and forcible confinement.

A seventh accused, 32-year-old Kelly Marie Kroeker, was charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was recently stayed.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca