HUNTER: Dirtbags R Us – notes and observations from the crime world

Get the latest from Brad Hunter straight to your inbox

Published May 08, 2026  •  Last updated 2 hours ago  •  3 minute read

MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD: Alfred and Joanne De Jong.

Did you miss these crime stories? Check ’em out!

Article content

TRIO FACE MUSIC IN DOUBLE MURDER OF B.C. PAIR

Article content

Article content

On Friday, a B.C. Supreme Court judge delivered her verdict in the first-degree murder trial of three Surrey men (ahem, “international students”) accused of killing an elderly Abbotsford couple during a 2022 home invasion.

All three were found guilty – and the details of the killings are sickening.

Arnold De Jong, 77, died by asphyxiation, with his entire head and face wrapped in duct tape, while his 76-year-old wife Joanne, was bludgeoned and had her throat slashed.

Abhijeet Singh, Gurkaran Singh and Khushveer Toor, who pleaded not guilty, also stole cheques, credit cards and, bizarrely, a power washer.

Toor is a foreign national who was in Canada as a visitor while both Singhs were, um, international students with Gurkaran arriving on these shores just weeks before the murders. But you knew that.

Court heard one of the twisted killers looked for news articles about the murders and queried Mr. Google about the penalty for murder.

Article content

Article content

The defence claims, uh huh, the double murder wasn’t planned. Manslaughter please!

Tragic Good Samaritan Colin Hough.

MURDER OF A GOOD SAMARITAN

Tragically, Colin Hough, 45, discovered the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Good Samaritan was shot and killed on a rural Alberta highway when he stopped to lend a hand on Aug. 6, 2024.

Court heard Elijah Strawberry and Arthur Penner were driving a stolen truck when the vehicle broke down near Chestermere, Alta. They are now on trial for second-degree murder.

A witness testified he thought he was going to die in the brazen daytime fireworks.

ELIJAH STRAWBERRY. RCMP

Matthew Andres told prosecutor Photini Papadatou he was shot in the arm. But Strawberry and Penner returned and aimed a gun at his head.

“I had gotten on the ground and just laid flat on my stomach,” Andres said. “I was screaming ‘no’ and ‘please.’”

Hough was shot to death minutes after Andres when he stopped to help.

ARTHUR PENNER. RCMP

Andres said: “After I felt the shot I turned to look at the individual … they were pointing (a pistol) at my head. They said, ‘Keys.’”

Article content

He then got up and began running for his life. By the time Hough arrived, Andres’ truck had been crashed into a ditch. The accused killers’ truck was in flames.

When Hough stopped, Andres testified he heard three or four shots and again began running. He then spotted the truck driving away, “and a body wearing a red survey vest laying in the middle of the intersection.”

Double killer Janson Baker.

AND IN GOOD NEWS …

Janson Baker takes the prize for the dirtbag of the week. The 29-year-old New Brunswick thug has been sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years.

Baker was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for killing Bernard Saulnier, 78, and his wife Rose-Marie Saulnier, 74, on Sept. 7, 2019. He went to murder the couple’s son but opted to shoot the couple instead.

Read More

1. 

   HUNTER: B.C. cops target extortion rackets by naming and shaming

2. 

   HUNTER: Questions persist in kidnapping/potential slaying of Elnaz Hajtamiri

3. 

   HUNTER: An American junk justice idea so stupid it could be Canadian

His price tag for the homicides? A gold chain.

And when asked if he had anything to say, the career criminal chimed in: “No, not really, just that it’s under appeal and I’ll have my day in court.”

Innocent victims Bernard and Rose-Marie Saulnier, left. Dirtbag on right.

The couple’s oldest son, Luc, described his agony: “Shattered. We are shattered.”

Baker, the killer, is still serving a prison sentence for shooting a teacher in January 2021 — more than a year after the double murder.

Now, as Mayor Joe Quimby said on The Simpsons: “I need a drink and a shower.”

[email protected]

@HunterTOSun

Article content