(file photo)
There’s been a guilty plea in the 2020 slaying of Emerson Sprung in Meaford.
The accused, Matthew McQuarrie has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Erika Chozik told jurors Thursday morning McQuarrie, with consent of the Crown, re-elected yesterday afternoon to be tried by a judge alone and then entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder of Sprung.
Justice Chozik then dismissed the jury.
A sentencing hearing will be held next Monday, when victim impact statements will be read in court.
McQuarrie’s guilty plea to the new indictment of second-degree murder was made in front of Superior Court Justice Clayton Conlan.
Assistant crown attorney Jayme Lesperance read an agreed statement of facts into the court record, consented by McQuarrie and the Crown.
Sprung’s body was found by a police dog in a shallow grave at Lakeview Cemetery in Meaford on May 6, 2020. An autopsy determined the cause of death was multiple stab wounds. Sprung was 25-years-old.
McQuarrie, then 34, was arrested and originally charged with first-degree murder in relation to Sprung’s death.
According to the agreed statement of facts, McQuarrie and Sprung were friends who met while in custody at Central North Correctional Centre.
On May 1, 2020, McQuarrie and his four-year-old son attended the residence of Emerson and his mother. After they spent about an hour in the home, Emerson, McQuarrie and McQuarrie’s son left. Then during the course of the afternoon, McQuarrie left his son alone with Emerson.
Lesperance read into the court record the young boy later told his dad (McQuarrie) that Emerson had called him names, “touched his stomach … hit him in the head … hit him in his butthole” and put a knife to his head.
Police were called and attended the McQuarrie residence, took an account of the alleged events, and then advised McQuarrie “he had done his part in reporting the incident and needed to allow police to conduct an investigation,” the agreed facts say.
The agreed facts don’t establish the credibility of those allegations against Emerson, only that McQuarrie reported what his boy told him to police and officers were to conduct an investigation.
McQuarrie and Emerson continued to message one another online following the report of the alleged incident to police, and arranged a meeting at Memorial Park on May 2.
Blood, teeth and hair were found near a bench at Lakeview Cemetery on May 3.
The agreed facts say Sprung’s BMX bike was pulled from a pond on May 6. And then later that day his body was found in a different area of the cemetery, wrapped in a tarp and buried in a shallow grave.
Police then searched the pond at Lakeview Cemetery on May 9, and located a knife. And then on June 3, the pond was searched a final time, and a iPhone was recovered by police. According to the agreed statement of facts, police were granted judicial authorization to examine the contents of the phone and received software capable of doing so in November 2023.
Lesperance read into the court record the examination of data showed the phone belonged to McQuarrie, and contained a photo of McQuarrie’s left hand holding the knife he used to kill Emerson Sprung on May 2, 2020.
The phone also revealed an exchange of text messages McQuarrie had with another person on May 2, when he sent a message — among others — saying he was “(gonna) record him apologizing … as I cut his throat.” A picture of Sprung’s dead body was also sent from McQuarrie’s phone.
McQuarrie accepted the agreed statement of facts as part of his guilty plea to second-degree murder.
