Police believe a B.C. university student found dead in Calgary earlier this week may have been murdered by a longtime friend.
Joshua Hogarth, 18, spent the last school year studying on Vancouver Island before returning home to Calgary to live with his mother for the summer.
On Tuesday, two weeks before the start of the fall semester, his body was discovered outside a condo in the Acadia neighourhood. An autopsy revealed the teenager died of multiple stab wounds.
Police took 20-year-old Byron Arnold Blanchard in for questioning Wednesday, and he was charged with second-degree murder early Thursday morning.
Mutual friends say Blanchard and Hogarth knew each other for more than a decade, and that the two had been out together on Monday night before something came between them.
Hogarth’s friends, who describe the deceased as an “amazing kid,” told CTV News they are devastated by the loss.
“He came back to visit us all – we just went out,” T.J. Crowhurst said. “He was enjoying his hometown and this happened.”
Hogarth’s death marks the sixth homicide of the year in Calgary.
Blanchard is expected to appear in court on Aug. 28.
With files from CTV Calgary
