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Trail man charged with murder

Joel Anderson has been charged with Second Degree Murder in the death of Harold Paddock
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Joel Anderson was 25 at the time of his crime spree in Trail. Black Press file photo

A Trail man has been charged with the murder of a local senior.

Joel Anderson was charged with Second Degree Murder in the death of Harold Paddock, 78 of Trail.

“This charge stemmed from an incident which occurred on August 22, 2017, in Trail,” Sgt. Mike Wicentowich reported on Feb. 5.

“Where the elderly victim Harold Paddock died due to the alleged actions of Joel Anderson. Joel Anderson was arrested on this same date as the incident and has remained in-custody since his arrest. He will next appear in court by video at the Rossland Provincial Courthouse … on February 7.”

The morning of Aug. 22, Greater Trail police received calls of a man down in the middle of Bay Avenue near Highway 3B in the downtown area.

Officers arrived on scene to find the unconscious victim, now identified as Mr. Paddock, laying in the road and bleeding from the head.

The senior was transported to Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital where he died about a month later.

Background story below:

“Murder charge pending in death of Trail senior” (June 26, 2018 Trail Times)

The level of offence has yet to be updated for Joel Anderson of Trail, after the victim he is charged with assaulting died in hospital.

“Joel has not been formally charged yet in regard to the death of the senior (male),” Trail RCMP Sgt. Darren Oelke told the Times. “Crown is deciding what charge is appropriate – Manslaughter or Second Degree Murder. We expect a decision on this soon.”

Oelke says a murder charge will “depend on proving intent.”

In the meantime, the sergeant confirmed that Anderson will remain in jail on the strength of other charges.

Those include arson, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, uttering threats and obstruction of a police officer.

“He has been in custody since all these incidents occurred,” Oelke confirmed. “He pled guilty to assaulting a police officer, uttering threats, and Breach of Probation – he received jail time for the time he has already been in custody.”

Oelke did not know where Anderson is being held, but said the closest facility is the Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver.

Related story here: Joel Anderson

Related story here: Joel Anderson fire

Anderson was 25 at the time of his alleged violent crime spree through.

He was charged with arson after a Shaver’s Bench home went up in flames in the early hours of Aug. 22.

In addition to Arson and Break and Enter into the Trail home, police charged him with numerous other offences (unrelated to the senior) that included Assault Causing Bodily Harm, and Uttering Threats.

After the initial arrest, police continued to investigate and subsequently charged Anderson with two more counts of Uttering Threats, Obstruction of a Police Officer and the Aggravated Assault of an elderly male.



newsroom@trailtimes.ca

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Sheri Regnier

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