GUELPH – After asking for help from the public, police have arrested a fourth individual in connection to the kidnapping and death of a 40-year-old Cambridge man in Guelph.
On July 8, Ian Brown, age 51 of Guelph, was arrested in Guelph by members of the Wellington County OPP Crime Unit with assistance from the OPP West Region Regional Support Team.
Brown has been charged with assault with a weapon and kidnapping.
He remains in custody and was to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Guelph on July 9.
A fifth suspect remains outstanding, and the investigation is ongoing.
OPP officers responded to a two-vehicle crash on the Hanlon Parkway, between College Avenue and Stone Road, on May 14 at about 6pm.
A man with life-threatening injuries was found on scene and taken to hospital by ambulance, where he was later pronounced dead.
Upon further investigation, police learned that earlier in the day, the victim had been assaulted, kidnapped and abducted from a residence on Fife Road by five suspects who fled in two vehicles, OPP officials stated in a press release.
Investigators believe, while traveling southbound on the Hanlon Parkway, the victim was outside the first vehicle, a Toyota Venza SUV, when he was struck by the second vehicle, a Dodge RAM pickup truck, that was following closely behind.
Brown, along with three other people involved in the incident, has been charged with kidnapping and assault with a weapon.
The three others charged are 19-year-old Griffin Kerfoot from Elora, 20 year old Jacob Schafer from Guelph and a 16-year-old from Guelph.
Schafer was arrested on June 29 and remanded into custody. He was set to appear in Guelph court on July 9.
Kerfoot and the unidentified youth were arrested on July 2 and released from custody. They are set to appear in Guelph court at later dates.
The youth’s name is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The investigation by the Wellington County OPP Crime Unit remains ongoing, under the direction of the OPP CIB, in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service.
Support was also provided by the Guelph Police Service.
Anyone with information about the suspects or the vehicles is asked to contact Wellington County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit a tip online at ontariocrimestoppers.ca. Tipsters may be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000.
“The OPP would like to thank the public for their cooperation and the valuable information that contributed to the apprehension of the wanted individual,” officials state in a press release.
“While this remains an isolated incident, the OPP reminds all members of the public to remain vigilant and contact police if they observe anything suspicious.”
