The brother of a man who died while staying with a roommate, who hid his body for weeks before disposing of it near a dumpster behind his apartment building, found solace attending court.
Benjamin Boltwood was in the gallery of a Kamloops courtroom last week, where he heard details of how his older brother David Boltwood ended up deceased behind a dumpster outside 170 Carson Cresc., rolled up in a carpet in November of 2019.
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Shane Brownlee, who invited Boltwood to stay with him at the time, has pleaded guilty to one count of interference with a dead body.
Benjamin Boltwood couldn’t believe his brother’s body went undetected outside for days or in the building for weeks when people had complained about an odour. He was also stunned that Brownlee went from being a Good Samaritan in letting his brother stay with him to someone who would do what he did and involve a child in the act.
“At the end of the day, nothing can be undone,” Boltwood said in court.
But upon hearing an apology from Brownlee and learning he’s since become sober and turned his life around, Boltwood said he was pleased this “bizarre and terrible event” managed to be the catalyst that altered Brownlee’s life for the better.
He said he now views it as something that will honour his brother’s memory.
Brownlee, court heard, found his roommate David Boltwood dead of natural causes in their apartment, opting to hide the body in a rolled up carpet for weeks in his home and a storage locker across the hall before ultimately disposing of it with the help of an unsuspecting teenager.
Crown prosecutor Camille Cook said she spoke with another brother of David Boltwood, and Boltwood’s two daughters who expressed relief he wasn’t murdered and were also gladdened Brownlee has turned his life around.
Asked by judge Ray Phillips to tell the court about his brother, Benjamin Boltwood said he was a father figure to him over the years, having lost his dad when he was in his early 20s.
Judgement is expected to be rendered on March 26.
