An Alberta man who allegedly entered his victim’s Hamilton home as a guest and shot him dead, leaving his body to be discovered days later by a friend, has been charged with second-degree murder, police say.
Hamilton police were first called to the home in Waterdown on the night of March 6 after a friend of the deceased went to check on him.
The victim, who investigators previously identified as Dirk “Jeff” Nyhuis, was pronounced deceased at the scene. An autopsy revealed that he had died of a gunshot wound.
In an update on Friday, Det. David Brewster said the shooting occurred days earlier, on the morning of March 3.
“The accused and Jeff were known to each other and appears that the accused was an invited guest into Jeff’s home,” he said.
Through surveillance footage obtained by police, investigators believe that the two men were the only people inside the home at the time of the shooting.
“It seems like everything was fine in the home, and then, like I said, ultimately, an interaction occurred between the two of them that resulted in this,” he said.
The motive behind the shooting remains unclear at this time, but Brewster said it does not appear to be a robbery or drug related.
Cory Mahoney, who was arrested somewhere south of Calgary by RCMP officers earlier this week, has been charged with second-degree murder in Nyhuis’ death. He has since been transported back to Hamilton.
The firearm used in the shooting has not been recovered.
Brewster declined to say specifically where the arrest took place.
“I don’t want to speak to the address. His parents and everything all still live there. It’s a small community, a small rural community, and I think it would be unfair of fair of me to, to address, the address,” he said.
It’s unclear exactly how Nyhuis and Mahoney met, but Brewster said they shared mutual friends and an interest in billiards. Brewster added that Mahoney was only in town a “few” days before he returned to Alberta.
Brewster noted that Nyhuis’ friends played a key role in identifying the suspect and helped to establish a timeline leading up to the shooting.
