LangleyAdvance
In its second decade pg A4
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Tuesday, October 8, 2013
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Audited circulation: 40,026 – 36 pages
RCMP
Suspect arrested in grow op murder A suspect in the shooting death of a young man was likely trying to rip off a marijuana grow op. by Matthew Claxton
mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
A 23-year-old Surrey man has been charged with murder in the death of Taylor Johnson, found shot to death in a South Langley home earlier this year. Police say Jesse River Hill has been charged with second degree murder, break and enter with intent, disguise with intent, and discharging a firearm with intent in the slaying of the 21-year-old son of a Delta pastor. The killing was random and Johnson did not know Hill, said Sgt. Jennifer Pound, spokesperson for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. “It was a senseless act that tragically took the life of Taylor,” she said. Johnson was looking after a house in the 2000 block of 200th Street in Langley’s Fernridge neighbourhood. The home contained a marijuana grow operation. His body was found there on Feb. 26, after a call to the RCMP to check on his well being. Pound said police believe the murder was the result of the suspect trying to steal the crop of pot. “This has changed everything in our lives,” said Wendi
Matthew Claxton/Langley Advance
Wendi and Paul Johnson, the parents of murder victim Taylor Johnson, spoke to the media at IHIT’s Surrey headquarters on Thursday. Johnson, Taylor’s step-mother. “It is an open wound that is very raw,” she added. Taylor came from a large family and had five siblings. His biological mother died of cancer when Taylor was a young boy. His father Paul is the lead pastor at the South Delta Baptist Church. The family moved to Canada from Arizona in 2007. Paul said the family is already beginning to extend forgiveness to those responsible for Taylor’s death. “I don’t think there’s any value in hatred or carrying around bitterness,” said Paul. The family does want to see justice done, Paul said, and they
thanked IHIT, and the various police departments including the Langley RCMP and Delta PD that worked with their family or helped with the investigation. But as Christians they want to see the perpetrators change their ways and “get right with God,” Paul said. “We hope that they find Jesus through this event,” he said. Police are not saying much about the circumstances surrounding how Taylor came to be looking after a home with a marijuana grow op inside. “Taylor was a good kid,” said Pound. “He was naive, and he made a bad decision that ultimately cost him his life.”
Taylor’s family described him as a gentle young man who was trusting and caring of others. Pound said there have not been any other arrests linked to the marijuana grow op itself. The scene of the murder was an ostensibly empty house, but immediately after the killing, a neighbour said that there had been a man in his 40s or 50s living there until recently. The grass was cut and trees trimmed, and the driveway gate was always padlocked, the neighbour said. The police have not ruled out the possibility that others may be arrested in the case, Pound said. “Evidence is still coming in,” she said.
Fire department
Two arson fires, one house, one weekend Langley Township firefighters had to visit the same house three times in one weekend. by Matthew Claxton
mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
A vacant Langley house is now a scorched shell, after determined efforts to burn it down on the weekend. The house on the southwest corner of 208th Street and 72nd Avenue has been vacant for some time, said Langley Township assistant fire chief Pat Walker. Vacant houses often attract fire bugs, and on Saturday at 9:30 p.m., firefighters were called after someone apparently torched the building. The fire was to the exterior of the southern side of the house,
Troy Landreville/Langley Advance
The vacant house was apparently torched twice on the weekend. and caused significant damage. The firefighters doused the blaze and headed back to the hall. Crews were called again about 12 hours later, at 6:55 a.m. on Sunday morning. This time, Walker said, someone had entered the damaged structure and set the living room on fire.
Walker can’t say how the fires were started, but there is no doubt they are suspicious in nature. “There’s no power to the facility, there’s no gas to the facility,” Walker said. There is now way an electrical short or other issue could have sparked an accidental fire. Firefighters driving by later on
Sunday had to stop for a third time, after they noticed small puffs of smoke coming from the building. An ember from one of the first two fires had lodged in the attic and was smoldering, Walker said. The building is now so severely damaged the building has been declared unsafe. The fire department and the Township are working to get a demolition permit and to contact the property owner, with the hope that the owner will knock the building down soon. Before the weekend incidents, firefighters and Township bylaw officials had been to a house a few times when it was last occupied, as there was some backyard burning without permits, and after it became vacant there were some concerns about garbage being dumped there.