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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 Lloyd 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.

Ryan David Chapman, 22, and a 20-year-old man 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. The charges against the second man were later dropped.

well-known to police | plea and sentencing | lawsuit filed

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 Edmonton 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 Lloyd 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.

Also on February 23rd, 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 – read more »

The story of David Wong took another strange twist on February 26th when Wong's house was broken into – read more »

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" – read more »

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 occaisonally looked into the gallery searching for familiar faces.

Jason Costouros did not appear in court but he faced 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 did not say whether Wong's death was drug or gang-related.

On April 18th, 2007, two images of a person of interest were released by Edmonton police homicide detectives – read more »

Well-known to police

David Wong and three of the four men charged in connection with his murder were well-known to law enforcement.

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 had been 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."

One of the men charged in connection with Wong's death had previously been charged with second-degree murder – read more »

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 180th 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.

Plea and sentencing

On October 23rd, 2008, the four men found dismembering David Wong's body pleaded guilty to being accessories to murder after the fact and interfering with a dead body.

As part of the plea arrangement, an agreed statement of facts was read out in court.

A complaint from a tenant of blood dripping through his bathroom ceiling brought police to the apartment directly above, 1406E, at 8820 Jasper Avenue on February 21st, 2007.

Kyle Grapentine answered the door. Police said he looked "very pale, nervous and sweating." The officers noticed an "overpowering smell" of bleach and other cleaning products.

Grapentine told police he would "prefer" if they got a warrant. They went in any.

"Blood, frankly, was everywhere in this apartment," Crown prosecutor Michelle Doyle told the court.

Police saw a large blood stain on the carpet and bloody footsteps leading to a bathroom.

In the bathroom, they saw bloody clothes, rubber gloves covered in blood on the floor, a black-handled butcher knife and a hacksaw.

Then they saw Wong's partially dismembered body lying in the tub, the stump of one severed arm raised upward. His tattooed arms and a leg were already stuffed in green garbage bags nearby.

"The offence was a protracted and determined effort ... and a callous disregard for basic human values," Doyle said in her sentencing argument.

"Removing the limbs of a man, placing them in garbage bags, and cutting through his limbs with a hacksaw ... this is the sort of conduct that sends a chill through the community, as it should."

Justice Sterling Sanderman outlined his sentencing decisions.

Michael Gray, 24, received four years and six months in prison. The Crown had asked for a term of seven to nine years.

Gray had been earlier been convicted of stabbing Layton Leslie Montpellier to death after an altercation outside Cowboys Country Saloon on November 11th, 2001.

Gray pleaded guilty to manslaughter in March 2003, claiming he didn't intend to kill Montpellier and that his judgement was impaired by alcohol. 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. He served 40 months.

For Jason Costouros, 25, four years and six months was prescribed by Sanderman. Costouros was on parole at the time of the offence. The Crown had asked for six to eight years.

Nicholas Harris, 27, was sentenced to four years. Sanderman labelled the man as a danger to the community, someone who had a lengthy criminal record, including drug trafficking and aggravated assault charges, and was on parole at the time of Wong's dismemberment. The judge tacked on three months for breach of conditions. The Crown had asked for six to eight years.

Kyle Grapentine, 25, received two years and eight months. Grapentine's name was on the apartment's lease (along with Gray) and it was he who answered the door when police first arrived.

Grapentine was the only one of the four not to have a criminal record and the only one not held in custody. The Crown had asked for a term of five to seven years.

Sanderman said because the men pleaded guilty, it indicated some remorse on their part and a public admission of wrongdoing.

Sanderman termed the act a "joint effort ... and everyone was in it together.

"One of the hallmarks of a civilised society is how we respect the dead.

"These young men exhibited a complete disregard for the sanctity of a human body," Sanderman said.

"They dealt with the body of Mr. Wong as if it was the carcass of a dead animal. It appeared as though the four of you were in the process of discarding parts of this man's body as if it was offal – leftover parts from a slaughterhouse.

"They were in it for a penny, in it for a pound," Sanderman said, adding he was disgusted with the case.

"Covering up the crime, that you should be punished," he said. "The gruesome acts after push it up but that is not the key. It's the destruction of evidence."

Sanderman seemed to focus on the latter aspect. While the "stark horror" of the case was an aggravating factor, he seemed most angered with the intent of the four men.

"The purpose was to dispose of evidence of a murder," Sanderman said, suggesting their actions prevented police from charging someone with Wong's murder.

He went on to describe the apartment as an "abattoir" and a "private chamber of horrors."

To date no one has been charged with Wong's murder, and the motive behind his death remains a mystery. Court heard no evidence of a gang connection. The men declined to address the court when they were offered the opportunity.

The Crown declined media interviews but indicated in their statement there was not enough evidence to link any of the four men or anyone else to Wong's murder.

Wong had been stabbed 158 times in the hands, back, head, chest and abdomen. He died in the apartment suite where his body was found.

Prior to the sentencing hearing, media spotted Kyle Grapentine outside court and the presence of their cameras prompted a strong reaction from the man – read more »

Lawsuit filed

It was learned shortly after the sentencing hearing that a lawsuit had been filed by the Public Trustee of Alberta representing the estate of David "Tommy" Wong on behalf of his son and his parents.

The statement of claim, entered on October 15th, 2008, asked for $650,000 and alleged "one, more or all" of the four men recently on trial "wrongfully killed" Wong on February 20th, 2006.

According to the statement of claim, Wong was healthy, employed and contributing financially and otherwise to the support and upbringing of his son prior to his death. Wong's son was two years old at the time.

As a result, his son is now deprived of the maintenance, support, care, training, education and assistance provided by Wong and normal expectation that it would have continued in the future.

$500,000 in damages was being sought for the loss of financial dependency, loss of household services and loss of contribution to post-secondary education.

It further sought $45,000 in bereavement damages for the boy and $75,000 in bereavement damages for Wong's parents. Additionally, there is a $20,000 claim for funeral expenses and $10,000 for grief counselling fees for the boy and parents.

Statements of claim contain allegations not yet proven in court.

All the information presented on this page has been compiled primarily from published media reports and should not be interpreted as having legal bearing or other prejudice against the individuals named on this web site.
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deadmonton 2007 - david wong