Halloween homicide: Drug theft, disrespect leads to execution-style killing near Cultus Lake

From petty crimes to a botched jailhouse drug-smuggling scheme to murder

(This is not a new case but another example of a serious criminal justice story overlooked by local media for whatever reason. News isn't always about what's new, it's about telling people something they didn't already know – PJH, May 5, 2025)

When Jordan Smyth was arrested for mischief and identity theft on April 3, 2019, it was an unremarkable crime, not particularly serious. He spent a night in jail.

The next day, Judge Kristen Mundstock released him on $500 bail. Three weeks after that, he didn't show up for a court appearance so a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was charged with theft, possession of stolen property under $5,000, and identity theft.

Smyth was re-arrested. The case then proceeded quickly. On May 14, 2019 he was sentenced to a year of probation. The 26-year-old had no criminal charges in B.C. before that year, according to online court records.

These were relatively petty crimes, bad decisions he could have turned his life around from, maybe. Instead, Smyth found himself making connections at the notorious Surrey Pretrial Centre that he would soon regret, and not survive.  

One thing leads to another

Four months into that 12 months, Smyth did something that violated his probation conditions. On Sept. 10, he was returned to Surrey Pretrial where, if he didn't already know him, he made his fateful connection with prolific offender David Allen Geoghegan.

The two were living in the same unit at Surrey Pretrial. Whether by choice or coercion, Smyth got involved in Geoghegan’s plan to smuggle drugs into the jail. On Oct. 23, 2019, Smyth was released, setting the plan in motion. A girlfriend supplied the drugs to Smyth that he was ordered to “secrete in his body,” according to court documents. He was then supposed to get arrested, return to Surrey Pretrial where they could sell the drugs to inmates.

The value of drugs behind bars is exponentially higher than on the streets, as Kent Institution corrections officer Jason Lee knew and made tens of thousands off before he was busted and sentenced to five years.

But Smyth had a change of heart. He used some of the drugs and decided he didn’t want to go back to jail. 

Geoghegan was not impressed. 

“It was apparent that [Geoghegan] was becoming frustrated with Mr. Smyth's reticence to follow through with the plan,” according to the BC Supreme Court sentencing decision by Justice Dev Dley from Sept. 7, 2023. 

“Mr. Geoghegan made it plain to Mr. Smyth that he was to adhere to the smuggling scheme. Mr. Smyth did not.”

Geoghegan was released from Surrey Pretrial eight days after Smyth on Oct. 31, with retribution on his mind. He was ordered to live at Joshua House, an addiction treatment centre in the Chilliwack River Valley with next to no security. Geoghegan knew where Smyth was living and he called some friends, one of which was another prolific offender well-known to police, Darius Commodore.

Commodore had a stolen Volkswagen Jetta and a shotgun. He came to Joshua House with Kayla Killoran-Roy and Miranda Jones. Commodore fired the gun as they left the property and drove to the city.

Smyth was living at the apartment of yet another prolific offender, Lorne Sims, who once stole $12,000 worth of belongings from vehicles belonging to volunteer firefighters out on a call. His son Jered Sims is similarly well-known to police, as are several of their acquaintances.

Commodore saw Smyth earlier that day at the Sims' apartment because of a $40 debt Smyth owed, so when he realized he was in trouble is unclear, but Smyth definitely clued in at some point because when Geoghegan and Commodore showed up, he was hiding in a bedroom closet. They took his money and whatever drugs were left from the stash he was supposed to smuggle into Surrey Pretrial. 

Now he had a debt to pay for the drugs he consumed after not following through. Geoghegan decided Smyth had to break into a jewelry store to pay off the debt. That never happened. Commodore and Geoghegan had a good cop/bad cop routine going Sims told the court: “Commodore as a hothead, whereas Geoghegan was calm and polite.”

Whether or not Commodore brought the shotgun into the apartment was not confirmed at trial, but Sims testified that Smyth went willingly with the two men. The jury and the sentencing judge concluded that he had no choice.

While Geoghegan drove, Commodore beat Smyth in the back seat and put zap-straps on his wrists. They drove to a location described in the court decision as “Pepé’s place” where the kidnappers went inside to sell and do drugs. After 45 minutes they came out, drove to a gravel pit on Sleep Hollow Road on the Soowahlie Reserve near Cultus Lake for the terrible final Halloween night conclusion.

Was the killing planned?

At the secluded location, Geoghegan had a smoke with Smyth, and cut off the zap-straps, according to Justice Dley's sentencing decision.

Commodore then aimed the shotgun at Smyth who put up his hands in self-defence, according to forensics examiners. He fired twice striking Smyth in the forearms. Then it ended.

“Smyth was still making noise, so Commodore shot him in the head.”

Smyth’s body was found in an open area off a remote section of Sleepy Hollow Road on the reserve about one kilometre from Cultus Lake on Nov. 1, 2019.

That description of what occurred is what was accepted by the jury based on Geoghegan's account and other witnesses after the fact.

Martin Snowden, another well-known offender in Chilliwack, told police and the court what he heard.

“Snowden testified that, within a day or two of the killing, Geoghegan told him that he and Commodore had both shot Smyth and that Commodore had got down on one knee and shot him in the head,” Justice Dley wrote, adding somewhat importantly that “Snowden was not an impressive witness.”

Despite his unimpressive performance, Justice Dley concluded that some of Snowden’s evidence was consistent with Loewen’s who said that Geoghegan told her that they had “roughed up Smyth, taken care of business, shot him, and left him there. She said that Geoghegan told her that he had shot Smyth, and then Smyth was grabbed and business taken care of because of disrespect and for stealing the drugs.”

Worse than not “impressive,” a “Ms. Loewen” is described in the decision as a so-called “Vetrovec witness,” which refers to one who is unreliable and possibly not even credible. Still, since it was confirmed by Snowden and it matched up with a “common sense view of the evidence,” Justice Dley accepted it for the sake of sentencing and considered Commodore and Geoghegan co-conspirators, and Geoghegan guilty of kidnapping and manslaughter.

Justice Dley sentenced the 33-year-old to eight years in jail. Geoghegan had served 800 days in pre-trial custody, so with credit at 1.5-to-1 for 1,200 days, which is about three years, three-and-a-half months. From that date of sentencing on Sept. 7, 2023, he had four years, eight months and 10 days left to serve.

Commodore’s trial commenced after Geoghegan’s but ended in a mistrial when the jury couldn't come to a verdict. At that trial, Geoghegan refused to testify. He was found in contempt of court and on Dec. 7, 2023 sentenced to 18 months in prison to run consecutive to the manslaughter/kidnapping conviction.

Crown said it planned to re-try Commodore again for murder but in June 2024 he pleaded guilty to to the lesser charge of unlawful confinement, and was handed a conditional sentence. 

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Paul J. Henderson
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