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2w ago

Judge-Alone Trial Opens in Abbotsford Double Murder as Crown Alleges Greed Motive

Prosecutors outline a circumstantial case linking three former cleaners to the 2022 killings through forensic traces, phone data, financial records.

Arnold and Joanne de Jong were killed in their home in May, 2022.
The couple was found murdered in their Abbotsford home on May 9, 2022.
Arnold De Jong bought his first truck in 1970, building an Abbotsford trucking business “from the ground up.” Until his retirement, he continued to do the driving himself, transporting produce, raspberries and eggs.
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Overview

  • The judge-alone trial opened with Gurkaran Singh, Abhijeet Singh and Khushveer Singh Toor pleading not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.
  • Prosecutors say the men were linked to the De Jongs through Abhijeet Singh’s AS Cleaners, which serviced the home in 2021 and April 2022, and that Gurkaran had arrived weeks earlier on a student visa.
  • Court heard the couple were found bound in separate bedrooms; a pathologist is expected to testify Joanne died from sharp and blunt-force trauma and Arnold from asphyxiation.
  • The Crown alleges stolen credit cards were used in the early hours of May 9 and that forged cheques for more than $5,000 were deposited by two accused, with a pressure washer also taken and sold.
  • Evidence the Crown plans to call includes fingerprints, DNA on a suspected weapon found in a car trunk, cellphone and financial records, in a 40-day proceeding with at least 24 witnesses.