Second-degree murder charges against an Abbotsford man accused a 2017 killing have been stayed.
Clarence John Crothers, 62, was found dead in his apartment on July 4, 2017. His injuries were consistent with homicide, investigators said.
Just over a month later, 51-year-old Jeffrey Charles Halicki of Abbotsford was charged with the homicide.
On Sept. 10, Crothers’s son, Joseph, met with members of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team who informed him the case had run into problems with forensic evidence and the charges against Halicki were stayed.
Crothers had multiple heath problems when he was killed. He was in a wheelchair and needed oxygen tanks to breathe. Police said he and Halicki knew each other and neighbours say they lived close to one another, but the motive remains a mystery for Crothers’s family.
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