Two charged with murder and kidnapping of Kitchener, Ont. man

Police have arrested two men for the kidnapping and murder of Jason John Brown.

The 43-year-old Kitchener man was abducted from Jessie Street in Harriston, near the cemetery, on March 12, 2019. The next day his body was found almost 200 kilometres away at the side of Stevenson Road in Oshawa.

Investigators determined Brown’s death was a homicide.

Ontario Provincial Police announced Friday that the Edmonton Police Service had arrested Joshua Alexander Drumond, 32, the day before.

Steven Jon Walsom-Gerigs, a 33-year-old from Brantford, was also arrested.

Both men are charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping.

On Friday, Drumond and Walsom-Gerigs appeared at the Ontario Superior Court in Guelph.

SEARCH FOR SUSPECTS

OPP released the photos of three vehicles they believed were connected to the Brown case earlier this year.

In September, they confirmed that two of them had been located but did not reveal where.

The third vehicle, a light-coloured Chrysler 300, had still not been found.

At that time, police were still trying to determine the motive for Brown’s death.

Police are investigating the suspicious death of a Kitchener man found in Oshawa. (Mar. 2019)

WHAT’S NEXT?

OPP said their work on Brown’s case isn’t over.

“There’s been some great work done by our detectives and they continue to investigate under the Criminal Investigations branch, also with the assistance of the Biker Enforcement Unit,” said PC Const. Jacob Unger in an interview with CTV News. “[They are] following leads, seeing if there are possibly other people to look into as well. So the investigation is not done. There’s still a lot to do.”

Due to a publication ban, OPP cannot reveal the specifics of the case.

“Motive is an important element to any criminal charge,” said Unger. “That is something the investigators are continuously assessing to try and determine what a possible motive was. They’ll be looking at what the relationship between the deceased and the accused was.”

The investigation could also turn up new leads.

“There could also possibly be other people charged in the investigation as well, we’re not ruling that out,” said Unger.