Five Victims, One Murderer

"If you know Matthew, he's not the monster people like to believe he was."

"Mental illness hit him hard. But he has recovered. That's the most important part -- that he has recovered. He's very remorseful and cognizant of what he needs to do to keep himself in that position."

"It was an undiagnosed mental illness, and nobody knew."

"We're just fighting to [have him] progressed the way he's supposed to be progressed."

"[Those in the system, including doctors, are fearful of granting new privileges to Matthew], not because of his progress, [but] because of what they think the public will say."

"We feel great sympathy [for the victims], but we also have to protect our son. There are six families impacted by this, not just five."

Susan de Grood 

Matthew de Grood, shown in this file photo, was found not criminally responsible after stabbing five people to death at a Calgary house party in April 2014. (The Canadian Press)

 

Matthew de Grood was charged with five counts of first-degree murder. Following a trial in 2015, Justice Eric Macklin came to the conclusion that while he had certainly killed the victims, de Grood was not criminally responsible since his untreated schizophrenia "rendered him incapable of appreciating or knowing that his actions were wrong". 

In 2014 Matthew de Grood stabbed five people to death at a house party in Calgary. His parents spoke publicly when a court ruling dismissed political bias claims on the part of the Alberta Review Board governing the man's fate since the ruling of 2015 when a court found him not criminally responsible for the murders of Lawrence Hong, Joshua Hunter, Kaitlin Perras, Zackariah Rathwell and Jordan Segura.

Under 24-hour surveillance, Mathew de Grood now lives in a group home in Edmonton following the review board's having deemed him a "significant" threat to public safety. His parents don't believe the review board is committed to upholding theirs or their son's rights, believing in the existence of a campaign to maintain the board's authority over their son for the rest of his life.

As a 22-year-old University of Calgary psychology graduate in preparation to begin attending law school, Matthew de Grood grabbed a knife at an end-of-semester house party in a Calgary neighbourhood. While the party was winding down, de Grood stabbed Rathwell, then attacked Segura and Hunter, chasing the latter down the street. He also stabbed Perras as she attempted to escape, and Hong, while he dozed on a sofa.

De Grood was finally disarmed by another, intervening party guest, then he fled into the night. Hiding in a dumpster, he slashed his wrists. With the use of a dog team, Calgary police eventually tracked him down, arresting him after a brief struggle. In custody, de Grood uttered bizarre statements about religion, politics, prophecies and aliens, claiming to have defended himself against "medusas and werewolves" and had in his possession a clove of garlic.

Following his 2015 trial and its ruling of not criminally responsible, the sentence to an indefinite period in a psychiatric facility elicited controversy, with critics suggesting that de Grood's father Douglas's status as a Calgary police inspector afforded his son special treatment. Critics suggested Matthew de Grood's academic background left him well equipped to fake mental illness.

By 2019, the Alberta Review Board allowed de Grood to apply for unsupervised day passes to the city, the initial step to transitioning to a supervised group home. The provincial justice minister of the time stated his intention to formally ask the review board to "ensure a maximum possible role for victims" in the hearing process. Privileges ended up being revoked by the board in 2020, then restored by the Court of Appeal a year later.

"The focus of the board isn't now about what Matthew did and  how he's supposed to get better."

"The focus is still trying to make him pay for what he did and reminding him every year of what a horrible person he is."

Susan de Grood

The review board in 2022 opted to continue restricting de Grood to a group home. While he is in some respects a "model" patient, Board members acknowledged he lacks any history of independently taking his medication, suffering two instances of "decompensation" in 2019 and 2021. Furthermore, a doctor concluded that while Matthew is a low risk to reoffend, any violence if he does, would likely be severe.

"[De Grood] is undoubtedly much less dangerous now than he was then. However, his transition to unrestricted life in the community will not happen overnight."

"However, on the evidence on this record, it was reasonable for the review board to conclude that the appellant still poses a risk of serious violent behaviour."

Three-person panel of judges' unanimous decision

Zackariah Rathwell, 21, Lawrence Hong, 27, Kaitlin Perras, 23, ​Jordan Segura, 22, and Joshua Hunter, 23, died after Matthew de Grood, 22, stabbed them at a party in Calgary's Brentwood community in 2014. (Facebook)