Ekene Anigbo

Introduction

Ekene Anigbo is a British Columbia man once identified by the Vancouver Police Department as one of the province’s most dangerous gang members, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the manslaughter of Kathleen Richardson, a 57-year-old hairdresser and volunteer firefighter killed in her home in Naramata, B.C., in June 2021. Anigbo was originally charged with first-degree murder alongside his associate Jalen Falk, but a jury found him guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter in August 2026, and he was sentenced on November 2, 2026. With credit for time served, he will serve just under 14 years and six months. Prosecutors said the killing was part of a co-ordinated gang plot to find Richardson’s son and exact retribution for the earlier deaths of two Kamloops brothers and the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in drugs.

Background Information

Richardson was found dead inside her home in Naramata, a small community in the B.C. Interior, in June 2021. She was a well-known local hairdresser and volunteer firefighter, and the mother of Wade Cudmore, who was himself a figure in the region’s gang conflict. Court heard the killing formed part of an escalating cycle of gang violence and retaliation: prosecutors said Anigbo, Falk and other gang associates had come to the Okanagan to locate Cudmore and fellow gang member Anthony Graham, seeking revenge for the murders of brothers Erick and Carlo Fryer and for stolen drugs. In 2024, Cudmore was found guilty of second-degree murder in the brothers’ deaths. Falk pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier in 2026 and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 16 years.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted of manslaughter and sentenced. Anigbo was acquitted of first-degree murder but found guilty of manslaughter for his role in the 2021 killing of Kathleen Richardson and sentenced to 15 years in prison in November 2026.

Crown prosecutor Emily Yao told the court at the start of Anigbo’s trial in March that Richardson, 57, was found dead in her basement on June 9, 2021, bound with duct tape and zip ties. The Crown’s case was that Anigbo and Falk broke into her home early in the morning to interrogate her about her son’s location, and shot her twice in the face when she struggled as they restrained her. Yao was explicit about the evidentiary posture of the case: “The Crown’s case is circumstantial with many pieces of evidence that must be considered together. There is no direct eyewitnesses’ evidence to the murder of Ms. Richardson.” The trial heard from dozens of witnesses, including police officers and an alleged associate who said they drove Falk and Anigbo to Richardson’s home.

In August 2026, the jury found Anigbo guilty of manslaughter, rejecting the first-degree murder charge. Falk’s route to conviction had been different: prosecutors said he was arrested after he revealed details of Richardson’s murder to undercover RCMP officers during an elaborate “Mr. Big” operation in which investigators concocted a fictitious criminal organization and enticed Falk to join in order to gain his trust. Sentencing submissions and the joint position on credit for time served left Anigbo facing just under 14 years and six months of actual custody.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew sustained attention in the B.C. Interior because of what prosecutors described as the indiscriminate position of the victim in the gang conflict: a mother killed in her own home while being interrogated about her adult son’s whereabouts. The sentencing closed a case that had run for more than five years, from the June 2021 killing through the trials of both Anigbo and Falk and the separate 2024 murder conviction of Cudmore in the Kamloops brothers’ deaths. CBC’s reporting noted the killing was part of what the court heard was a violent series of killings connected to the region’s gang dispute.

Current Status

Anigbo, sentenced on November 2, 2026, is serving a 15-year term for manslaughter, reduced to just under 14 years and six months of service after credit for time spent in custody since his arrest. Falk is serving a life sentence with a 16-year parole ineligibility period after his guilty plea to second-degree murder. Anigbo’s manslaughter conviction, rather than a murder conviction, means the case ended below the automatic life-sentence tier that his original first-degree murder charge carried.

Impact on Their Career/Life

For Anigbo, a man the Vancouver Police Department had publicly identified among B.C.’s most dangerous gang members, the conviction converts that designation into a prison term that will run into his late thirties or beyond, and his conviction for manslaughter — like Falk’s murder plea — formally records his role in the killing of a woman court heard had no direct role in the dispute over her son. The Naramata case, together with the Fryer brothers’ murders and Cudmore’s conviction, stands in the public record as one interconnected arc of the Okanagan gang conflict, with Richardson’s family left with the account of her death given in open court: bound, restrained, and shot when she struggled.

Sources

• CBC News, “Man sentenced to 15 years in prison for 2021 killing of Naramata woman,” November 2, 2026. source