kwandell allan ferguson › deadmonton 2007 › deadmonton › edmonton

WARNING

Kwandell Allan Ferguson, 16, was beaten to death October 30th, 2007.

Ferguson was Edmonton's 25th homicide victim of the year.

Daniel Glenn King, 44, was charged with second-degree murder and possession of an offensive weapon.

At about 11:30 a.m. on October 30th, 2007 police were called out to a location near 17th Street south of 153rd Avenue NE where they found the body of a dead male.

A second male was found at the scene suffering non-life threatening injuries and was taken to hospital.

"We're just looking into a sudden death, and homicide has been notified," a police spokesman said.

The location of the find – on a dead-end road east of the Raven Crest Golf and Country Club – is in the extreme eastern part of the city in a bend of the North Saskatchewan River.

There are few businesses and even fewer houses in the area frequented by all-terrain vehicle riders and weekend revellers.

Police held back from labelling the man's death a homicide until results came back from an autopsy conducted by the medical examiner's office.

On October 31st police charged Daniel Glenn King, 44, with second-degree murder and possession of an offensive weapon.

The victim was identified as 16-year-old Kwandell Allan Ferguson. His cause of death was blunt cranial trauma.

It was reported Ferguson had recently attended Inner City High but had not been seen there for several months – see details below.

King was scheduled to next appear in provincial court on November 23rd, 2007.

With few details coming from authorities, local media brought to light circumstances surrounding the reporting of Ferguson's body.

A disoriented man had stumbled into the Mix Brothers Services Ltd. business at 14707 17 Street NE saying his friend was dead in a nearby metal scrap yard about 300 metres away.

"He came up there and said him and his buddy had been beaten up and he thought his buddy was dead," Ginny Dohms told the Edmonton Journal.

“The guy figures he had been unconscious in the field for a couple of days,” said Dohms, adding he had scratches on his face, was wearing dirty clothes and appeared dehydrated. Dohms said the man declared that a third man had beaten them up.

“He looked bad. There was blood and dust on his face. He was shaking,” said Dohms. “He said somebody had beat them up good and left them for dead.”

When the ambulance arrived the man was in such pain that he could barely walk to it, she noted.

Mix Brothers owns the metal yard where the deceased was found but had rented it out to a man who builds storage tanks for the oilfied industry there. It was reported that the owner had been ill and the site has not been visited by his employees for some time.

Beer cans were found next to the deceased, but Dohms said they could easily have been left by partiers. Detectives secured a section of property with yellow tape.

Ferguson's body was found under an orange tarp near a long-abandoned brown Ford pickup truck. The passenger door was open.

The teen's exposed legs could easily be seen. Not indicated was who placed the tarp over the body.

A police spokesman initially said the injured man was not a suspect, but was "a person of interest." Investigators were waiting for the man's release from hospital in order to speak with him.

Inconsistencies in the man's story became apparent during media interviews with Mix Brothers employee Phil Lutes. Lutes was approached by the bloodied man while working in a welding shop.

"And I turned around and seen him standing there and you could tell he was in rough shape. He told me him and his friend were in a real bad accident and so then I phoned 911 right away."

Lutes told media how the man's story changed when speaking to authorities.

"The guy actually did say, when he was on the phone to 911 describing what happened, he said, 'some fellas beat the shit of him and left him for dead' is what he said on the phone."

Both Dohms and Lutes described the witness as being in his late 30s or early 40s and had never seen him or the deceased before.

Detectives and forensic staff remained on the scene all day and late into the evening.

The next day police charged Daniel Glenn King, 44, with second-degree murder and possession of an offensive weapon. An autopsy showed Ferguson's cause of death was blunt cranial trauma, specifically head wounds.

Police didn't identify the weapon and wouldn't say if it was used in the murder. But they confirmed they weren't looking for any other suspects.

“To my knowledge, we’re not seeking anyone else,” a spokesman said.

Police added that King and Ferguson knew each other and were also both known to authorities. The spokesman couldn't say if Kwandell and the accused were homeless, but that neither the gang or drug unit was involved in the investigation.

Investigators believed the teen's body was in the scrap yard for three days before being found and may have been brought there.

King made a brief appearance in provincial court on November 2nd, 2007 to be formally charged.

King remains in custody until his next appearance on November 23rd, 2007.

Not much was revealed about Kwandell Allan Ferguson. His former classmates at Inner City High School said little other than he had a hard life but still kept a smile on his face.

Nelson Egbende spoke to CTV Edmonton cameras.

"He had some issues like all of us they had to deal with, but it was kind of too late for him I guess."

"But he made the best out of it and he tried and that's what is important. And I hope that everybody remembers him as a good person."

"You could tell he was troubled, but he still came off quite happy," said another one of Ferguson's chums who added the teen was a smart kid, especially at math.

Ferguson was a student at the school at 9515 104 Avenue, a facility that offers Edmonton’s youth at risk an academic and arts-based alternative to the traditional school setting. Almost half of the school's students are homeless or living in unstable environments.

Inner City's principal Dan McDonald said Ferguson also attended Prairie View Outreach School in High Prairie off and on for several months in 2006.

"He was a likable kid," McDonald told the Edmonton Journal of the boy who often came to school after 3 p.m. to complete his work after the other students had left.

"He was a shy boy and he didn't interact well with the other kids," he said. "One day, he just disappeared."

McDonald said he last saw Ferguson in February or March of 2007.

deadmonton 2007 - kwandell allan ferguson