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WARNING

David Wong, 23, was dismembered late in the evening of February 20th, 2007. His body was found by police shortly after midnight the next day.

Wong was Edmonton's sixth homicide victim of the year.

Kyle Grapentine, 23, Michael Alexander Gray, 23, Nicholas Richard Harris, 25, and Jason George Costouros, 23, were each charged with one count of accessory to murder and one count of offering an indignity to a body.

Cody Michael Overton, 20, and Ryan David Chapman, 22, were charged with break and enter and theft over $5,000 in connection with a burglary at Wong's house four days after he died. Chapman was also charged with a breach of recognizance.

At the time police said further charges may be pending in both matters.

The charges against Overton were later dropped.

The story of David Wong's murder unfolded slowly as investigators remained tightlipped throughout the early stages of the case. Speculation by the media, fueled by a lack of official information, led to the story emerging in piecemeal fashion.

When word became official, Edmontonians were shocked at the brutality of the crime.

Wong's dismembered body was discovered after police investigated the second of two noise complaints – three hours apart – shortly after midnight on February 21st, 2007.

Police were first called to the Boardwalk Centre apartment building at 8820 Jasper Avenue at about 9:15 p.m. the evening before.

Sarah Spence, a 15th-floor tenant, had called authorities to report she heard a man who sounded like he was in agony.

"All of a sudden I heard this man screaming and crying and howling," Spence later told CTV Edmonton and the Edmonton Sun.

"I turned down my TV and ran for the phone and called police. All I could hear was just this man screaming, crying and loud banging sounding like furniture being banged around."

"First it sounded like a piece of furniture being banged against the wall over and over again – it was that loud," the 23-year-old said.

"Then I heard this man screaming and crying and howling. No words, just screaming and crying and howling."

"I thought literally I thought somebody's getting killed. That's literally the first thing I thought and I booted for the phone like I ran."

"It was a grown man screaming like and crying – at one point I thought he was almost laughing he was crying so hard."

Spence described her call to police.

"I said, 'It sounds like a man is getting beat. You guys have to come right away – come right now.' "

A few minutes later, the banging stopped and Spence said the man's cries grew fainter. Suddenly the TV in the noisy suite was turned up loud for about 15 minutes. Then, total silence.

Spence said she went to bed around 10:00 p.m. Her roommate woke her up three hours later as officers went door-to-door canvassing possible witnesses.

"I can't believe I heard someone get killed," said Spence. Shaken up enough to have taken the next day off work, she seemed to have no trouble relating her story to various media.

The problem was, Spence lived above the suite where the noise was coming from but thought the disturbance was coming from another suite on the same floor.

A police spokesman later confirmed a patrol unit did check the building after getting the noise complaint.

"Our officers are still trying to determine if the complaint received at 9:00 was connected at all to the incident reported at midnight," the spokesman said.

The spokesman later updated the information.

"Officers did arrive at the building. They spent over an hour there doing some investigation in the building. When they arrived they did not hear any of those types of noise that were described."

Police left after not finding anything on the 15th floor but were later called to suite 1306 shortly before midnight.

As Kevin Brown later told the Edmonton Journal, he called police after noticing blood seeping through his bathroom ceiling and splattering on the floor.

"I thought it looked like blood, but I thought maybe it was an animal or rodent that had somehow gotten caught between the floors," said Brown.

The 22-year-old man first noticed the fist-sized splatter at about 11:30 p.m. Police later told him someone had died upstairs.

"It was pretty unnerving," he said.

The unfortunate tenant showed where he made his discovery to Global Edmonton.

"The spot of blood I noticed was right there – again, it wasn't very big and neither was the spot of blood on the ground."

"It was a little bit disturbing for me but I like this place here and I think it was a just a stroke of bad luck on my part to stumble across the blood."

Police then headed up to the floor above, knocked on the door of suite 1406 – and then decided to force their way in.

In the unit's bathroom, they found a man's dead body – partially dismembered. Four males were also found in the suite.

Media first announced that officers had found a body under what they described as "odd and very suspicious circumstances" and that EMS was not required.

Homicide detectives then took over the investigation and didn't reveal much about the case.

A police spokesman said the four males were taken into investigative custody for questioning. At that point no charges had been laid.

At the time, police said they didn't know the age of the dead person or whether it was male or female.

Tenants in the building were woken at 1:30 a.m. as officers conducted door-to-door interviews. Residents reported seeing forensics team members in the apartment complex's underground parkade.

As the morning of February 21st wore on, police obtained a search warrant.

The document, filed later with Edmonton courts, stated "there are reasonable grounds for believing that human body, human arm, hack saw, rubber gloves, gun, safe, quantity of Canadian currency, black garbage bags, two knives, blood staining and anything suitable for forensic analysis" might be found in suite 1406, 8820 Jasper Avenue.

As morning turned to day, rumours were swirling amongst the media.

CTV Edmonton was the first to report, during its supper hour newscast, that the victim was male and his body may have been in the process of being dismembered when police arrived.

The station said the report of dismemberment came from a source close to the investigation.

The Journal quoted a tenant, who preferred to remain anonymous, who said he had heard two 23-year-old men rented the apartment where the body was found, but that the person who died didn't live there.

The Edmonton Sun reported the suite where the body was found was formerly occupied by three Edmonton Eskimos: Dahrran Diedrick, 28, Jonte Buhl, 24, and Keyuo Craver, 26.

Craver said he and Buhl both left the suite in November 2006 just prior to their lease being up. Diedrick left after he was cut from the team in July of the same year. Craver said he didn't know who lived in the apartment at present.

A spokesman for Boardwalk Rental Communities, which managed the building, said no Eskimos were currently living in the suite.

On February 22nd police announced 23-year-old David Wong was identified as Edmonton's sixth murder victim of 2007.

His body had been removed from the suite earlier in the day, 24 hours after it had been discovered by police.

An autopsy revealed that partial dismemberment did not contribute to Wong's death. However, the actual cause of death was not released.

Kyle Grapentine, 23, Michael Alexander Gray, 23, Nicholas Richard Harris, 25, and Jason George Costouros, 23, were charged with one count of accessory to murder and one count of offering an indignity to a body.

Charges in relation to murder or manslaughter were not laid, and police said more charges could be pending. They were not ruling out further suspects.

Police said they recovered tools believed to be used to dismember Wong's body, but a spokesman refrained from describing them.

CTV Edmonton cameras did spot officers placing cleaning products such as bleach and a tile cleanser into a police van.

Also indicated was a gang connection, however police didn't determine whether there was a gang motivation in the slaying at the time. Wong and the four men were known to each other.

Police did not confirm if the four men charged were the same four men found in the apartment.

The four accused made a brief court appearance on February 23rd, handcuffed in pairs. Wearing Edmonton Remand Centre blue coveralls, they appeared calm and composed.

Michael Gray's right hand was wrapped in a thick layer of bandages, indicating that something violent had taken place.

The quartet was remanded in custody and were set to be back in court on March 16th, 2007.

Police issued a public alert to help locate Wong's car, a 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

It was found later in the afternoon at West Edmonton Truckland on 118th Avenue near 170th Street. A neighbourhood resident had spotted the car after hearing of the alert through the media.

"It may help us, because we are trying to piece together Wong's movements prior to the crime," a police spokesman said.

A snowfall suggested the car was at the truckstop at least 24 hours before it was found. Melting on the hood of the car might have given police an indication of when the car was last driven.

After thoroughly inspecting the area where the car was found, the vehicle was towed to a secure location for further examination.

The story of David Wong took another strange twist on February 26th.

A day after the discovery of his body, police searched his house in St. Albert and seized a significant amount of cash. When they returned two days later, they noticed that several items had been taken.

A police surveillance, manned by Edmonton homicide detectives, the Metro Edmonton Gang Unit and the St. Albert RCMP, was set on Wong's home later that day.

They soon observed two young males along with three male employees from a moving company go into the house. They came out with furniture, high-end electronics and several other items which were then loaded into two vehicles – a Ford Explorer and a moving man.

The two young males left in the Explorer and were arrested near 118th Avenue and St. Albert Trail.

Cody Michael Overton, 20, and Ryan David Chapman, 22, were charged with break and enter and theft over $5,000. Police said they were known associates of Wong’s.

They were scheduled to stand trial together on May 1st, 2007 on an unrelated charge of possession of a controlled substance. (On May 1st the break and enter and theft over $5,000 charges against Overton were dropped).

The moving van was tailed to a storage lot in Nisku where it was seized. The employees of the firm were not charged.

According to police, other electronics, including some large screen TVs, are still missing from Wong’s home. Detectives continue to investigate, and have not ruled out the possibility of arresting other suspects in the homicide.

On February 27th the Edmonton Sun quoted a University of Calgary anthropology professor and former Calgary city police officer who said David Wong's murder bore the hallmarks of a “message homicide.”

“I think it’s safe to say that with that level of violence, the intent could easily have been a message homicide,” said Cathy Prowse.

Prowse told the Sun criminal groups sometimes find it necessary to send a message when a member of another gang encroaches on their economic turf.

A slaying could also be committed to send a message about the fate in store for someone with an outstanding drug debt, she said.

“Eliminating a person and letting the public know – that’s definitely a message homicide.”

The fact the suspects apparently didn’t do much to hide the crime may indicate that if the killers were part of a gang, they weren’t very high up in the hierarchy, said Prowse.

“It was really not well-orchestrated, it was not well-executed at all. So they may be one level down from street gangs – they may be just the grunt workers.”

Wong's funeral was held March 2nd at the Connelly-McKinley Funeral Home, 10011 114 Street. The event was closely monitored by police.

On April 16th, 2007 three of the four men charged in connection with David Wong's death were in court to hear formal charges.

Kyle Grapentine, Michael Gray, and Nicholas Harris, shackled and wearing blue prison jumpsuits, were each charged with one count of accessory to murder and one count of offering an indignity to a body.

The three showed no emotion and occasionally looked into the gallery searching for familiar faces as their lawyers and the judge set May 7th, 2007 as the date for their next appearance.

Jason Costouros did not appear in court but he faces the same charges. No explanation was given for his absence.

There was also no indication if charges in relation to murder or manslaughter were anticipated and police have not yet said whether Wong's death was gang-related.

On April 18th, 2007 two images of a person of interest were released by Edmonton police homicide detectives.

The two surveillance photos were taken before David Wong was found dead on February 21st in Apartment 1406 at 8820 Jasper Avenue.

A police spokesman did not indicate exactly where or when the surveillance images were taken.

“At this time I don’t believe he is a suspect. We just want to talk to him,” the spokesman said.

“This guy might know something. He is known to Wong. He is an associate, or friend of the deceased.”

Police also said four males charged were still considered only to be suspects in relation to Wong's death.

A full size version of the second image can be viewed here.

Those with information about the identity of the individual are asked to contact Edmonton police at 423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

David Wong and the four men charged in connection with his murder were all well known to police.

In April 2007 Wong was scheduled to appear in court in Wetaskiwin on charges of drug possession and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.

In August 2002, when he was eighteen, he was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Police had raided a west-end apartment and seized 60 grams of cocaine, 10 grams of suspected methamphetamine and $1,400 in cash. When officers made the bust, cocaine was being cooked in the suite.

The Edmonton Sun quoted a source who knew Wong and said he was a gentle giant who had survived many incidents of violence, including a shooting and a machete attack.

"Everyone that I know is just kind of sad that he had to go the way he did," said the young man, who didn't want his name printed.

The source said Wong brought his gruesome fate on himself by the way he lived his life.

"This is not something that happens to an everyday Joe Blow."

Nicholas Harris was charged with drug offences following a cocaine-related arrest in Grande Prairie in March 2006.

Jason Costouros was charged with assault and weapons offences following a home invasion in May 2002. He was on statutory release at the time of Wong's murder.

But it was Michael Gray's background that was the most egregious.

A St. Albert native, Gray was convicted of stabbing to death Layton Leslie Montpellier, of Falher, after an altercation outside Cowboys Country Saloon at 101st Avenue and 180 Street on November 11th, 2001.

Gray, who had turned 18 hours before, was charged alongside Steven Joseph Sharkey, also 18, with second-degree murder. Gray faced an additional charge of possessing a prohibited weapon and Sharkey's charge was later reduced to manslaughter.

Montpellier, a 22-year-old fourth-year University of Alberta engineering student, died of a single stab wound to the chest. He was at the saloon with 20 members of his hockey team.

Court heard that Gray was celebrating his birthday when he got into a scrap with Montpellier inside the bar.

Around 2:00 a.m. bouncers removed Gray and his friend Sharkey along with Montpellier. The club manager said the combatants were put outdoors at opposite ends of the building, but later testimony indicated they had gone out through the same door.

Outside, more words were exchanged and Montpellier turned to run. He slipped on the parking lot's gravel and fell, allowing Gray to catch up with him.

As Montpellier rose, Gray unfolded an illegal split-handled butterfly knife and stabbed him. Montpellier made his way 150 metres to a gas bar for help and collapsed on the floor.

The attendant locked the door while Gray and Sharkey kicked at the glass yelling, "We're going to kill you." Montpellier died a few hours later from a punctured heart.

Gray pleaded guilty to manslaughter in March 2003, claiming he didn't intend to kill and that his judgement was impaired by alcohol. He also pleaded guilty to the weapons charge.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Jack Watson imposed a sentence of five years in April 2003. Gray apologised to the court but Watson said he didn't believe he was being particularly remorseful.

Sharkey pleaded guilty to uttering threats and received a conditional discharge.

He was to serve 12 months probation during which he was forbidden from using non-medical drugs or alcohol. He was to complete 75 hours of community service, give talks at local high schools on the danger of alcohol abuse and donate $1,000 to the University of Alberta's engineering faculty where the money was to be put towards a scholarship.

The Montpellier family refused the $1,000 offer.

Michael Gray left prison in August 2006 on a statutory release.

A National Parole Board document described him as having shown "impulsive, antisocial behaviour" while in custody. The report also noted that he had a tendency to "externalise blame and take little responsibility."

Montpellier's brother Lane Montpellier, 38, said he was not surprised Gray was in hot water again.

“This is a classic case of how the justice system fails. Giving him five years – it might seem like a lot but if people knew how much you actually serve, it's a joke.”

"It's just unfortunate that another younger man died in a violent death. This opens up some old wounds from Layton's case," he said from his home in Stettler.

Montpellier's mother Nellie Montpellier said she was shocked to learn her son's killer had been charged in the death of David Wong.

"I was a little shook up this morning when I heard," she said.

"He has never shown any remorse for our son's death, and has never taken any responsibility the whole time he was in jail."

Montpellier said her family was "bitterly disappointed" when informed in August 2006 that Gray had been released on probation after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

"It's very uncanny that this happened because we just held a fifth Layton Montpellier hockey memorial tournament here in his hometown of Falher this Family Day weekend."

"Some of Layton's friends he played hockey with in Edmonton came up for the tournament and we were talking, wondering what had become of Michael Gray."

"And, lo and behold, two days later we hear he is back in the remand centre," she said.

deadmonton 2007 - david wong