One person has been charged with murder and another charged with manslaughter in connection with the 2020 homicide of Grant Edward Norton, London police said Thursday.
The update comes 11 months after police located the remains of the 59-year-old Ingersoll, Ont., man in a wooded area near Ada and Jacqueline streets in southeast London on July 19, 2020.
The discovery came a week after Norton was reported missing to police in Waterloo on July 12, and six days after he was last seen on July 6. London police joined the probe on July 13 and it was determined his last known whereabouts were in London.
In a statement, police said at the time that the remains were found in such a condition that confirming whether they were human was not possible without a forensic autopsy. A cause of death was not released.
On Thursday, police announced charges in connection with Norton’s death.
According to police, Ashley Morgan Bourget, 36, of London is facing one count of first-degree murder, while Adam Alexander Wade, 36, of London, faces one count of manslaughter.
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Wade, police said, is in custody for an unrelated matter, and has been charged by way of warrant application.
How or whether Norton and the accused were known to each other remains unclear.
Last month, police issued an appeal to the public for more information in the case, and released surveillance images of two people they believed were involved in Norton’s death.
The images show two individuals leaving Norton’s Audi sedan in an Oliver Street parking lot. Police did not say Thursday if either were Bourget or Wade.
Investigators would only say that the individuals and vehicle had been identified, and that while charges had been laid, “the investigation is ongoing, and further information may be released as appropriate.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
At the time of his death, Norton was facing charges laid a year earlier in connection with a Niagara-area probe into alleged fraud and theft of construction equipment from Havana Group Incorporated.
According to the Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton mobster Pat Musitano was a minor partner in the company. Musitano was shot to death in Burlington on July 10, 2020, four days after Norton was last seen and two days before he was reported missing to Waterloo police.
Police have not commented on whether Norton and Musitano’s deaths are in any way connected.
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