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Jury trial dates set for 2019 Halloween homicide near Cultus Lake

Darius Commodore and David Geoghegan charged with first-degree murder of Jordan Smyth in 2019
Paul Henderson
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Dates have been set for the jury trial of David Allen Geoghegan, 31, (left) and Darius Calvin Ray Commodore, 24, charged with the first-degree murder of Jordan Christopher Smyth on Halloween 2019, either late Oct. 31, 2019 or in the early hours of Nov. 1, 2019. (RCMP file)

Trial dates are set for the two men charged in the Halloween 2019 homicide of Jordan Smyth near Cultus Lake.

Prolific offenders Darius Commodore and David Geoghegan were charged in June 2021 with first-degree murder in connection to the killing of the 26-year-old whose body was found in an open area off a remote section of Sleepy Hollow Road on the Soowahlie reserve about one kilometre from Cultus Lake on Nov. 1, 2019.

At a court appearance on Feb. 15, a pre-trial conference was scheduled for Oct. 11 with a jury trial to begin in B.C. Supreme Court in Abbotsford on March 13, 2023.

Jordan Smyth.

READ MORE: First-degree murder charges laid in connection with Halloween homicide near Cultus Lake

READ MORE: Victim named in Halloween night homicide near Cultus Lake

At the time of his killing, IHIT said Smyth was known to police and they believed the homicide was a targeted incident.

Weeks after the killing, rumours made their way to The Progress that Commodore and Geoghegan were allegedly responsible.

At a press briefing on June 29, 2021, the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) confirmed that Commodore, 24, and Geoghegan, 30, were arrested on June 25 with the assistance of the Abbotsford Police Department, the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team, the Integrated Police Dog Services, RCMP Air 1, and the Chilliwack RCMP.

Commodore was arrested in Abbotsford, Geoghegan in Chilliwack.

“A tremendous amount of investigative work resulted in these charges being approved,” said Sgt. David Lee of IHIT in a press release. “The investigation remains ongoing and we know there are individuals with information related to Mr. Smyth’s murder and we are asking them to come forward.”

While Smyth had a number of criminal charges to his name, they were all recent, in the year prior to his death, and all relatively minor matters.

Commodore and Geoghegan, however, are well-known to Chilliwack RCMP with serious criminal records and numerous recent matters before the courts.

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Homicide investigators were on scene Nov. 1, 2019 following the discovery of a body on the Soowahlie First Nation reserve off Sleepy Hollow Road near Cultus Lake, south of Chilliwack. (Paul Henderson/ The Progress)
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David Allen Geoghegan, seen here being arrested on an outstanding warrant on Nov. 2, 2018, was again arrested on a B.C.-wide warrant in May. (Paul Henderson/ The Progress file)
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Approximate location on the Soowahlie First Nation between Chilliwack and Cultus Lake where a body was found on Nov. 1, 2019. IHIT is investigating. (Google Maps)