A jury convicted Robert Cudney of the second-degree murder of Calgary man Adam Young, who disappeared four years ago.
Young’s body was never found, but his DNA and teeth were found at a rural property east of Aldersyde following an extensive 10-day search by Calgary police.
Justice Robert Hall will sentence Cudney May 28. In second-degree murder convictions there is an automatic life sentence and the minimum period before being able to apply for parole is 10 years, up to 25 years. Half the jury recommended Cudney not be eligible for parole until after serving 20 to 25 years in jail.
It took the jury less than 24 hours to come to a decision on May 15 after hearing three weeks of evidence, including from a man who said he burned Young’s body in a ‘furnace’ he made out of a burn barrel at his parent’s property near Aldersyde.
Chad Eroshinsky told the court Cudney contacted him to get rid of Young’s body the night of Nov. 20, 2017. Cudney and another man, Jeff Brady, drove to Eroshinsky’s parents' rural property on 338 Avenue and 112 Street. Eroshinsky said he put up plastic and tarps in a camper on the property for Cudney and Brady to dismember the body. When they were unable to so, the three men stuffed the body into a burn barrel.
Cudney gave him drugs and a small amount of money for incinerating Young’s body.
A year later police searching the Eroshinsky property found Adam Young’s teeth in the barrel and DNA was found on a saw and broken sunglasses.
Eroshinsky testified under an immunity deal that prevented him from being charged with his part in disposing of the body.
Brady testified that after picking up Young from his downtown Calgary apartment, they picked up Cudney from a gas station. Brady said he knew Cudney was going to shoot Young because he owed people money. Young was a heroin addict who had been associated with the Independent Soldiers gang. Brady testified that he and Cudney were both drug users and sold drugs.
As they drove, Cudney and Young got into a heated discussion, Brady testified, and Cudney pulled out a gun and shot Young in the back of the head. They then went to Eroshinsky’s cousin’s home in southwest Calgary to clean up the car and put Young in the back seat before driving to the rural property where they would dispose of the body.
In early 2020, Brady pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to a human body and was sentenced to one day in jail. However, Brady had been arrested and spent time in custody after his December 2018 arrest for Young’s murder.
