SURREY - More than 100 police officers were involved in five arrests related to two local cold-case murder investigations.
David Clifford Sadler, 28, has been charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 9, 2009 shooting death of James Ward Erickson, 25.
Erickson was gunned down inside his second-storey apartment at Whalley's Parkside Apartments, in the 13300-block of 105A Avenue. Following a press conference on Nov. 10, police released a written statement from Erikson's mother, Patti.
"God gained an angel and we stay in grief with a very large piece of our hearts gone forever," she wrote of her "Sweet Baby James."
The older case involved David Mitchell, also 25, who was savagely attacked inside a house in the 11000-block of Ravine Road in Whalley on Oct. 27, 2006.
Four men have been charged in Mitchell's death. Khalid Damien Arnaout, 35, has been charged with second-degree murder, and Charles Vincent Chambers, 32, Michael Ludwig Yost, 34, and Kevin Alexander Pigott, 32, are charged each with manslaughter and accessory after the fact to murder.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team's Cold Case Team, formed in 2012, spearheaded the investigations and has since its inception secured charges in six investigations so far.
"We often say that homicide investigations are lengthy by nature," Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound said. "These two investigations show that many years after the fact, justice is still sought and those who choose to engage in this horrific crime will be held accountable."
As in Erikson's case, police released a written statement from Mitchell's family which read, in part, "After enduring eight painful years without answers, we are overjoyed that there is now an opportunity for David to receive the justice he so deserves. "As a family, we can finally look ahead to closure and healing."
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